Our day began with a very nice meeting at the children's camp "Voshod" (which means "sunrise"). A group of the kids was waiting at the main road, and ran with us to the camp.

They welcomed us in the traditional way, with bread and salt.

The children performed a nice folk dance for us.

...I want to hold it!!

Although it was a rainy day, the sun came out for a few moments during our presentation. It was a wonderful meeting and a perfect start into a rainy running day.

Farewell time. We hope to come again.

Conny was very eager to run in the rain.

A Russian sandwich... mmmnnnnnn :).

These kids from Ovsishche waited for us in the rain for about one hour, but the wait did not diminish their enthusiasm and joy when we came.

Some, however, needed to be warmed a little...

At Staropolje we met a class of school children; the children had painted a huge sign with "friendship" and "peace" written on it.

They also had flowers for our girls!

While waiting for runners, we found a stowaway in the car, and used the time to have a nice photo session with him.

Our last meeting today was in Slantsy, where some city representatives were waiting for us with bread and salt, and warm welcoming words. While we were running through the city, more and more local children came to join us and run with the World Harmony Run Torch. Some of them ran over 4 km!!

Our team captain was invited to light the eternal fire at the monument dedicated to the 70,000 Russian solders who died here in the Second World War, with the fire from our torch. A great honour for us!

Martin and I were delighted to discover that our accommodation tonight is a fully-equipped gym. And with the joy of 10-year-old kids we ran to try some of the equipment. Here I am doing a backflip on the trampoline. Woohoo!

- Jewgenij Kuschnow

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.