Special thanks to Hotel Wolfinger and Hotel Spitz for hosting our team!

Today we had to be ready quite early, as the team was to be honoured by a warm welcome from the Governor of Upper Austria, Dr. Josef Pühringer, followed shortly afterwards by a welcome from Mrs. Dr. Dolezal, Deputy Mayor of Linz. Their very kind and encouraging words, fully supporting the ideals of the World Harmony Run, marked the beginning of an extremely eventful day.

Accompanied by Ivonne Dedec, Austrian Junior Heptathlon champion, students from a karate dojo and children, we reached Gunskirchen for an overwhelmingly touching reception from the mayor and the music-school; the choir performed various peace-songs combined with poems for the team and the many other children present.

All this ended with a joint run around the square. As usual, the children especially, were screaming with joy!

In Attnang Puchheim, the mayor and many children received us! As a highlight, the children let a multitude of balloons fly into the sky...

Now it was time to speed up, to be in time for our meeting at the sport school in Lambach – its exceptionally good runners carried the torch to the main square. There, finally, we had... that is to say, we just took a little time to "refuel", after the kind reception from a city official.

Great organisers and good protection...

But there was no time for rest. Now the team even had to be split, to manage two simultaneous receptions at schools in Schwanenstadt and Vöcklabruck. What a day!

And off we went, towards Timelkam. Did the local sport school anticipate that, although very happy with the flow of the ongoing events, we were also already flagging a little, physically? For, as we arrived, we were immediately uplifted by cheerleaders from the local sport school. Here also, the mayor gave us a very warm welcome.

What a beautiful landscape we were running through - green fields, mountains left and right! And what would come next?

Ah – little kids in judo-dress waiting for us! That meant we were close to Strasswalchen, the village of famous judokas.

What fun it was to run with them into the village centre to meet the mayor and to once again replenish our fuel with drinks, fruits and muesli-bars, which were so kindly provided for us in almost all the places!

In our ceremonies, we usually say that in order to become a true WHR-member, one requirement is to run at least a few metres with the torch. The mayor of Neumarkt, our next destination, definitely exceeded all expectations; how enthusiastically and how far he ran after his kind address to the runners!

Then came another surprise. As we were coming into Henndorf, we could already hear our WHR theme song being played in the distance by a trumpet, and sung by a small choir. Thanks to the mayor for arranging all this! And thanks also to the city representative of Hallwang who so warmly received us next.

Still, one really exceptional highlight was yet to come. In Schloss Mirabell, Salzburg mayor, Dr. Heinz Schaden, deputy mayor Ing. Josef Huber and city council member Johann Padutsch all took time to personally welcome the team, despite their extremely busy schedules. They addressed us with extremely kind and deeply-felt words, proving in word and deed that they also share the ideals of the WHR – harmony, friendship and global understanding – and that they are also ready to make efforts to achieve these goals. In addition, each member of the team was presented with a most beautiful golden City of Salzburg medal.

This was one of our most eventful days. Later, when eating dinner at the “Heart of Joy” coffee shop we all agreed that a day like this felt like weeks. And indeed, it also gave us the joy and sense of true fulfillment of many weeks, for countless people had come together in true harmony, joy and friendship – friendship which will surely pass the test of time.

---

Distance: 103km

Team Members:
Dipavajan Renner, Pratul Halper and Gerhard Grünstäudl (Austria), Anita Borics (Hungary), Marlin Bernhard (Germany), Jarek Werner (Poland), Svetlana Gorshkova (Russia), Luke Armstrong (New Zealand), Tatjana Jauk (Slovenia), Roos de Waart (Netherlands)

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

Gallery: See more images!

< Austria 10 June < Ukraine 10 June

Austria 12 June >