Team A

It was a cloudy morning as we left Margaret River, the wind offering great opposition as we ran. The flame on the Torch blew back and forth under the wind's strength. We ran by beautiful countryside of undulating hills, green fields and vineyards.

We were joined by Mick Francis, a fantastic ultra-runner from Dunsborough, and his wife. Mick has raced and won many 24-hour races.

It was great to have Mick join us for our run into Dunsborough and even after a training run earlier in the morning he had us on our toes trying to keep up with him.

In Dunsborough we visited Our Lady of the Cape Primary School. The children sat quietly and intently as we told them a little about our run around Australia, and were very sharp in guessing which country each runner is from.

Then as soon as we passed the Torch around to each and everyone, they burst into a flurry of excitement. Each face lit up with joy as it gazed upon the Torch flame.

Departing from the school we made our way to Busselton to join with Team B (see report below).

– Colm Magee (Ireland)

Team B

Today as we ran into Busselton we were met by 11 high school girls from Busselton Senior High School and their Physical Education Teacher Louise Gore.

The girls and their teacher ran with us for almost 3 km from their school into town. Some of these girls ran without running shoes or even barefoot at times, jumping in and out of our support vehicle for a rest when necessary.

The motto of this school was emblazoned on the front of their uniform: 'Educate, embrace, enrich' – as everyone participated in our relay together it felt like the essence of this motto was being fulfilled.

Our group paused at Mitchell Park where Shire President Wes Hartley awaited us in running clothes, ready to go. Wes ran with us for the last 800 metres of the journey to our destination at the Equinox Café in Busselton.

Wes said he used to be quite a runner and jokingly prided himself in keeping ahead of the high school girls! We were treated to a scrumptious afternoon tea of hot drinks, juice and scones with jam and cream.

Thanks very much to the Shire of Busselton for participating in the World Harmony Run today. Last year the World Harmony Run ran from Busselton to Perth and those of us who were on the team then, truly enjoyed this re-visit.

Before leaving to join the other teams in Bunbury, we ventured out in strong winds and light rain to view the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere.

However, we couldn’t stay any longer as we had to meet our other teams along the road in Bunbury for a special afternoon celebration…

– Kylie Williams (Australia)

Team C

Margaret River is a unique township: nestled between the continent's mightiest forests and some of its best surfing beaches; centre of a burgeoning wine and winery tourism industry, and rich dairy country; far enough away from Perth to be a haven from the big city, yet close enough to sustain a thriving strip of boutique outlets, galleries and cafes.

The children of Margaret River Primary School are this year collectively walking the full distance around the continent of Australia. The map displaying the progress of their collective achievement showed a remarkable similarity to our own route – the main difference being that these children have only 2,000 km to go, so we are about 6,000 km behind them!

Principal Gail Creswell was eagerly awaiting us at the front steps of the school, and led us through to the assembly area. Once the assembled children heard they would be running with the Torch around their oval, they were off! Rather than talking first, these kids experienced the reality of the Run first and were then eager to hear more from our spokesman, Runar Gigja from Iceland.

 

After the children learned and sang the World-Harmony-Run Song together with our team, the ceremony concluded with the school honouring three of their outstanding student-citizens – one from each level of the school – with the World Harmony Run Torch-Bearer Award, for contributions towards creating a peaceful and happy school environment. Nomination statements for each of these award recipients will be posted on this website soon.

Our running for the day started in Busselton, which boasts the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere (nearly 2 km long). Busselton is also the home town of one of our team members from earlier in the Run, Grahak Cunningham. Grahak is presently in New York participating in the Self-Transcendence 3100-Mile Race. We think of you every day, Grahak, but especially today from your home town. We wish you the very best in your monumental task, which puts our own efforts in perspective: Grahak is running around 100 km per day on his own, about 2/3 of the distance covered by our combined team of 17 runners today!

At the entrance to Bunbury we were met by several runners and a cameraman from the local TV station. Both runners and media had been organised by the Vice-President of the Bunbury Runners Club, Kevin Martin,

who had also appeared earlier in the day on local ABC Radio to promote the Run. The running posse – led by Club President Doug Wright and our own Dima Lehonkov from Ukraine – had to work very hard against an ever-increasing headwind, which would develop later into a forceful gale. Running along the seafront, the wind and swell performed a turbulent dance as we rounded on the Clubhouse, where our runners enjoyed a most welcome hot shower.

Our hosts then escorted us to the Bunbury City Council Chambers where we were greeted by Dom Marzano on behalf of the Mayor, David Smith. Our meeting was warm and cordial, unlike the weather outside which had now turned to rain.

From the Council Chambers we returned to our temporary home, the Clubhouse of the Bunbury Runners Club

for a splendid vegetarian meal prepared by local restaurant 'Natural Temptation'. All the members of this friendly Club treated us so graciously and with such open hearts, we felt totally pampered and very moved by the generosity showered upon us.

President Doug Wright and Vice-President of the Club, Kevin Martin were both presented with Torch-Bearer Awards for their exceptional services to running and the broader community. In his moving acceptance speech, Doug Wright commented: "Long distance running is the perfect way to give harmony."

All our international runners shall not forget the extraordinary welcome extended to us here in Bunbury – reminding us that whatever remarkable places and spectacular sights our journey brings, it is the simplicity of human kindness that is the most valuable and cherished experience of all.

– Prachar Stegemann (Australia)

We would like to extend our deep thanks to all the staff at the Prevelly Park Beach Resort for putting us up last night and offering us such good cheer and friendship.

Also to the Eagle Boys Pizza in Margaret River for a fantastic meal.

 

– Prabhakar Street (Canada)

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Team Members:
Uddyogini Hall (Australia), Kylie Williams (Australia), Friederike Makowka (Switzerland), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Angela Muhs (Germany), Elke Lindner (Germany), Shapathanal Daly (New Zealand), Misha Kulagin (Russia), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Edi Serban (Romania), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Colm Magee (Ireland), Veeraja Uppal (Australia), Prachar Stegemann (Australia)

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

Gallery: See more images!

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