Team A

We started the day by thanking our hosts Leanne and Chris of Coral Coast Beachfront Holiday Park for a place in their very popular caravan park.

Leanne received the Torch and a certificate of our appreciation. Then it was straight into running as our team ran out of the town. Naturally we had to check out mangoes, as instructed by the National Co-ordinator, while in the home of the Bowen mango!

With no ceremonies scheduled for our team it was a chance for us to focus more on our running, interacting with the passing motorists, and absorb the more lush cane-growing region we were passing through.

In addition to the passersby on the road we were greeted by a passing train carrying sugar cane, which needed a push start to get going again.

After days of flat country it was a joy to us all to see the many hills and ranges that are quite close to the highway. Shortly after 1 pm we reached Proserpine, completing our share of the running for the day.

While some of us feel the effect of a quick 13 km more than others, we were in unanimous agreement that a visit to Harbour Beach in Mackay was the best remedy for all.

We had a further surprise on reaching the beach to see small waves! This was totally unexpected as we believed we wouldn’t see another wave until below Maryborough. Some bodysurfing and diving through the waves just added to the refreshing healing properties of the water. Another great day on the World Harmony Run!

– Amalendu Edelsten (Australia)

Team B

Our team headed out from our beautiful beachside resort camp this morning, drove 63 km south and commenced running from Proserpine.

We passed many lush, green fields of sugar cane today.

Cane planting, harvesting, and transportation were underway all around us. Special trucks travelled in both directions, carrying the harvested cane in huge cage-like containers.

At one point we passed a sugar refinery, where the cane is juiced and the juice is boiled to form sugar crystals.

We were blessed to find some cut cane that literally fell off the back of a truck right at one of our roadside pit stops!

After a number of unsuccessful attempts we worked out a good way of tasting the juice – by breaking open the youngest stalks, peeling off the outer green layer, then biting down on the fibres to release a burst of sweet juice.

In the afternoon we joined Team C at Mackay Central Primary School for a ceremony that included a presentation from the team, singing the World-Harmony-Run Song with the children, and three laps of the school running track.

The children were from many different cultural backgrounds, and showed great enthusiasm throughout.

– Bernice Matthews (Australia)

Team C

The day started on a high, as we saw the latest local papers. The Townsville Bulletin gave us a great write-up, but Misha Kulagin was more excited by the colour photo on the front page of the Bowen Independent which showed him holding the Torch, running through the cheering crowd of schoolchildren. This gave him such a buzz that he bought drinks and chocolate for the rest of the team!

We ran from Calen, past green woodland and sugar cane fields that towered over us, while a cool wind blew in our direction.

We finished running in Mackay, the birthplace of Australia’s favourite runner, Catherine Freeman. There, we joined Team B at the Mackay Central State School

– and you would be hard-pressed to find a more multicultural school anywhere in Australia. The school has students from 16 nations (even more than the Aussie World Harmony Run team at present). When we played a game in which they guessed the runners’ nationalities, they figured us out with the greatest of ease (though Latvia was still a little tricky).

Noivedya Juddery was most surprised – and a little relieved – at how quickly they worked out his nation: the Philippines. Noivedya was actually born in Australia, and hasn’t lived in the Philippines for so long that he can barely remember any of the language. Fortunately for him, there are several Filipino kids at this school, who knew the answer before he had to say very much.

Despite his faded memory, they were very excited to meet a World Harmony Runner who was at least a little bit Filipino, and he found himself signing autographs while his teammates waited patiently.

Veeraja Uppal then urged the children to feel harmony within themselves:

Afterwards, everyone went outside to pass the Torch

Then three laps around the oval...

Runner’s profile…

“Runar is indescribable.” – Edi Serban, Romania

“Big-hearted, bright and boisterous.” – Nigel Webber, Australia

“Runar is easily the greatest runner in the history of the World Harmony Run, the personification of all that is wonderful about the event.” – Runar Gigja, Iceland

“One of my great heroes, a true musical genius.” – Sir Paul McCartney (but he was talking about someone else, definitely not Runar)

Runar is one of the most flamboyant and unforgettable characters of the World Harmony Run, with his encyclopaedic knowledge of Sri Chinmoy, health food, intriguing conspiracy theories, chess, Elvis, gourmet chocolate, non-gourmet (but still perfectly edible) chocolate, root beer, ginger beer, modern American comedy films and numerous other things.

Runar can talk non-stop about almost anything, at any time of day or night, with great enthusiasm. The phrase “never a dull moment” was probably invented, all those years ago, just because someone knew intuitively that Runar would eventually be born. A health-food store manager in his native Iceland, his expertise of nutrition and health supplements has been a great boon to the World Harmony Runners (though, with all his medical advice, we can’t really explain why so much of his own diet is comprised of ice-cream, cakes and Smith’s Crisps).

Runar’s critics are unnecessarily cruel. They say that he is brash, that he is pushy, that he is perhaps slightly crazy – and sometimes, they even say things that aren’t true! But Runar is one of the world’s most dedicated and tireless harmony runners. He was trying to remember how many countries he has visited with the World Harmony Run, but lost count at 25 or thereabouts.

In fact, he started before most of the team – in 1987, when the World Harmony Run visited his town in Iceland. He joined a handful of children in an 80 km run to the next town. That was when he was nine! His interest has only grown since then.

Apart from his running, we are grateful to him for the endless entertainment he provides. His jokes are frequent, fast-flowing, and occasionally even funny (on special occasions). He is always keen to lend his voice to radio and television interviews, always with his special perspective.

“Runar is a funny boy. When he is in the team, it’s so joyful. And he really likes Frisbee. He’s a very good team member.” – Dima Lehonkov, Ukraine

(that's Runar on the right of the photo)

– Noivedya Juddery (Australia)

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Team Members:
Amalendu Edelsten (Australia), Anastasia Aleksejeva (Latvia), Nigel Webber (Australia), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Edi Serban (Romania), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Bernice Matthews (Australia), Veeraja Uppal (Australia), Nick File (New Zealand), Noivedya Juddery (Australia), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Prabuddha Nicol (Australia), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Elke Lindner (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Angela Muhs (Germany), Rathin Boulton (Australia), Misha Kulagin (Russia)

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

Gallery: See more images!

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