The dining hall is filled with young civil service workers. A queue flows out of the building into the garden. Luckily by this time all of our team is already comfortably seated inside, eating our porridge, cereal and sandwiches.

“Hi! I’d like to run with you. I should be attending class, but I’d like to run with you!” We are just boarding the van and turn around to see a bright-eyed, curly-haired boy standing there, running shoes on. His name is Lauri and he joins us for an amazing 21k in a row, all the way to the ceremony in Liljendahl, and out back to the A6 highway from where he plans to hitch-hike back to the camp. He himself was very surprised that he could do such a distance, as he hadn’t done any running for a month, but torch in hand he was running like anything. He told us that the previous evening many of the boys had actually planned to run with us. Even though they didn’t come, we’re happy to hear about their inspiration. Next time for sure the whole camp is more than welcome to join us.

There is a ceremony in Helsinki at 10 o’clock, so team 1 starts running from the border of Helsinki, and team 2 begins in Lapinjarvi. In Porvoo our teams are to meet again to run the last stretch to the border of Helsinki together.

On a sunny day the Esplanade in Helsinki is brimming with people, and this sunny morning is no exception. The ceremony in Helsinki is really something very special! 17 countries have come together to celebrate the passing of the torch to the Finnish capital. We have ambassadors from Austria, Cyprus, Egypt, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Israel, South Africa, Cyprus, and Spain, and representatives from Hungary, Iraq, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Morocco, and Slovenia. They all come up, introduce their country and give us their very best wishes for spreading the message of Harmony and Friendship, and for uniting the hearts of countries, in the way they are united here today in Helsinki.

It is the third time one of our torch relays has come through Liljendahl, a quaint country town with lots of fields and forests. The people we met were very positive and open.

Local runners ran with us from border to border for a total distance of 13k. Among them were two very sporty and cheery Ethiopian girls, who joined us for the last 7k, and who were able to communicate with us in three languages.

They had run with us the two previous times as well, and one of them was wearing our one of our T-shirts. At the town stadium we had a small ceremony on the green of the football field where the city representative gave us a hearty “welcome back” speech.

Porvoo is a beautiful old city with cobbled streets, beautiful old houses, and a serene river running through it. At the city border a group of young athletes waited for us. Led by Finland’s running star for 800m we ran 4k into the centre of the old part of town. Here we were met by a menagerie of reporters, a flock of spectators, and had a very happy reunion with many from the Finnish marathon team. The city was sparkling most beautifully in the strong sunshine - a perfect summer day. The city representative made a very nice speech, which was followed by myriad interviews, and then our Finnish friends organised ice cream for all. After this, our 800m-runner led us out of the city with a troop of children. As we said farewell, it was quite endearing to see our girls exchange addresses with two incredibly charming Nepalese girls.

Our team reunited, we ran together to the border of Helsinki. During this time we got to experience a typical part of Finnish summer weather. The sun shone most brightly for half of the way, and then suddenly a huge outpouring from the skies was upon us. On our way, two cyclists - a very athletic looking girl with her father - stopped at our van. They were very curious about what we were doing, having seen us run in Porvoo. They really liked the message we were carrying and when handed the torch they left their bicycles and sprinted off. As they left again for their bicycles the super-enthusiastic father shouted blessings over us. This girl was actually Finland’s junior champion in cross-country running. What a coincidence!

Despite the cold weather and the rain we went swimming in the sea with our Finnish friends. It has to be admitted that overall the girls are much tougher than the guys in this aspect, braving the 19 degree water for quite a long time, whereas some of us only made short dips coupled with high-pitched screams. It is amazing; the girls seem to have no problem with the temperature and even seem to enjoy it very much.

Some of our Finnish friends prepared an absolutely exquisite meal for us. I’m talking heaven-made lasagne. This comes together with a great salad, hot chai, and is topped off with ice cream. Delicious!

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Distance: 100km

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