Team A

Our starting point today was the Clubhouse of the Bunbury Runners Club. We were joined here at 8.15 am by one of their keen running club members, Josephine.

As our team chatted with her outside the clubhouse, we had a surprise visit from Brian, another member who attended the ceremony yesterday and had completed the Sri Chinmoy 24-Hour Race in Adelaide in 1993! Instead of running this morning he was cycling and held the Torch again with us before leading the way for our runners.

Josephine, originally from Scotland, and Friederike from Switzerland, ran together for about 10 km from the clubhouse on the water’s edge in Bunbury to Picton Primary School. We are most grateful to you Jo, for giving us added energy and enthusiasm by running with us.

At Picton Primary School we were met by Sue Gleeson, the acting Deputy Principal.

Picton Primary children were really enthusiastic and attentive. It sounded like they enjoy running very much as they rose to the task of becoming World Harmony Runners.

When it came time to learning the World-Harmony-Run Song, the school music teacher started to accompany us on the piano as we sang and the whole school joined in, complete with actions.

Thank you Picton Primary School for increasing our feelings of joy and happiness this morning. It was great to share Sri Chinmoy’s vision ofthe World Harmony Run with you and we appreciate your questions andsmiling faces.

Our team ran for about 60 km today and ended up meeting Team B at Singleton for another special school ceremony (see report below).

– Kylie Williams (Australia)

Team B

We started this morning by assembling at 'Sri Chinmoy Street', which had been dedicated in honour of the Founder of the World Harmony Run following last year's Run. Debbie and Sam Bevan, owners of the Riverside Caravan Park and Cabins where the street is situated, hosted our entire team last night, continuing the extraordinary hospitality we enjoyed in Bunbury.

We then hit the road to Perth once more. A nice, bright morning – conditions perfect for running.

Long stretches today were along the busy highway. The downside to this was the noisy traffic but the upside was that we receive many cheerful honks and waves from commuters.

We even had a couple of landscapers stop work to have a chat with us about the Run and our route through the north. Thanks for the inspiration, guys.

We made our way through the countryside and arrived at the town of Mandurah, crossing over a bridge that revealed a beautiful scene of the ocean on one side and a lake on the other: a very scenic town with rivers and tributaries flowing through to the sea.

While passing through the town, Shapathanal Myers-Daly from New Zealand spotted a big skate park ... Jackpot! He seized the opportunity and, taking the Torch in one hand, his skateboard in the other, made his way to the ramps. He displayed a few jumps, 'ollies' and 'grinds' for us all with the Torch in hand. Watching the grind was the best. It took a few attempts but Shapathanal wouldn't give up until he pulled off a clean grind. When success came it was, in his own words, "sweet as!"

Running onwards, we negotiated our way through the town and ran the last few kilometres to Singleton where hundreds of children from Singleton Primary School had gathered outside and were waiting in anticipation. The welcome we received was thunderous! It was a wonderfully colourful scene with decorations and the huge crowd of children – a sea of green and orange. Many of the children wore orange for the occasion, symbolising harmony.

The children were so full of excitement and there were so many of them that it took a bit of organising to get the show going. The loud speaker system on our van came in very useful. With it up and running we were able to address the entire school. The children were fantastic to talk to, listening with enthusiasm and full of joy as we played games with them. They sang along cheerfully as we offered a rendition of Sri Chinmoy's World-Harmony-Run Song.

The highlight of the ceremony came as we asked the children if they would like to run a lap of the oval, to which we received an overwhelming 'Yeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh!' The Torch lead in front as hundreds of joyful children followed around the oval, excitement and laughter filling the air.

Before departing Singleton Primary School we stopped for a photo beside another Sri Chinmoy Street. This street was dedicated when the World Harmony Run visited the school last year, so we were thrilled to take this opportunity to pay homage to the Run's Founder.

– Colm Magee (Ireland)

Team C

Today we entered once more into the hustle and bustle of urban life as we ran from the southern city of Bunbury into Fremantle, just 20 km from Perth.

After driving to Singleton, a few of us could not resist a quick dip in the Indian Ocean before commencing running for the day.

Our route to Fremantle took us along coastal roads with the occasional ocean view. As the roads were quite busy with traffic we were very happy to discover many parallel service roads or grassy median strips to run on that made the journey very comfortable.

Midway during our travels we met Neil Mulligan, a photographer from the Rockingham Community Newspaper who just happened to be driving down our route.

He remembered us from when the Run visited Western Australia last year and so as soon as he saw the Torch, he happily stopped to take some shots.

By 2 pm we had reached the port city of Fremantle for our engagement with St Patrick's Primary School. The students were full of enthusiasm for the Run and asked many questions about our journey and the message of world harmony. We all then joined in a few laps around the playground with the Torch.

Many children held the Torch and passed it to all their peers whilst running.

One question that was asked by a child was, “Why do you run with a flaming torch?”

We explained that to us the flame and torch were symbols of hope and harmony that inspire us. When we hold and run with the Torch and share it with people around the world, we feel happy.

– Veeraja Uppal (Australia)

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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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