Morning in Malbork: the sun a haze behind a thick cloud cover, slight rain, cheerful city representatives, a table laden with juice and a nice selection of cookies. Local athletes, bursting with energy, run with us a tour of the big, many towered famous German Knight Order Castle, and out of the city.

Running through Gdansk is comfortable enough, but our cars get stuck in a traffic jam. They pull through though, and we’re still on schedule. We run towards the sea to the place of the ceremony, accompanied by ever-increasing cold rain. At the foot of a pier we are heartily greeted by city representatives and by a nice gathering of people under umbrellas. Several reporters are also present. Before running off some of us dip into a nearby kiosk to buy some of the city’s famous delicious waffles topped with whipped cream and berries. They feel very light though, and running is no problem afterwards. From here a very scenic route follows, and charmingly the rain has also stopped to let us enjoy it even more. First, joined by some energetic children and a friendly local runner, we run 8k along the seaside market avenue towards Sopot. We run past thousands of people, and experience many smiles, claps, cheers and waves. A few also join us for a bit. Needless to say, this is a really wonderful experience.

From Sopot we leave our guest runners behind, but pick up new members of our Polish team. Now we run another 8k to Gdynia. First up: a park-lined road. Then we run by the water brim on the sandy beach, a vast sea to our right and sheer foresty cliff-sides to our left. At one point we head up a very steep slope up on the cliffs, and follow a narrow forest trail alongside the cliff edge, a long drop down. The terrain is very uneven, with roots wrangling across the trail, which also makes many ascents and descents. The view is fantastic. We make a final steep descent and are back on the beach for a few kilometres before we again climb onto the road and head up onto land. Just as we reach the ceremony place it starts to rain again. Though it is cold our welcome is all the warmer. Here are gathered more members of our Polish Marathon team, and quite a few reporters with TV cameras.

Ceremony finished and interviews given, we say a grateful farewell to our Polish friends and head back to Gdansk to take the ferry to Nynashamn, Sweden. We want to say thank you to Poland for giving us such a warm welcome in your beautiful country. Many people really opened up their hearts to us and were very enthusiastic to share our message: friendship and harmony among peoples. See you next year!

Unfortunately on the ferry we don’t have a cabin, so we have to sleep on the floor by a staircase. Not the height of comfort with the cigarette smoke and the constant noise of late-nighters to early-morningers, but at least the floor is carpeted and it is warm. There is also a public shower, so that is nice.

Distance: 80km

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