Special thanks to the hotels "Gersberg Alm" and "Gasthof Kendl", who made sure our team got a good night's rest!

We may have had a wet start to the day, but we did not let this dampen the spirits of the team. We were excited, as we were about to enter into Austria's famous mountains.

We started from the city of Salzburg, famous as the home of Mozart, music and culture.

Before we left however, we had a meeting with the deputy governor of Salzburg, Dr. Otmar Raus who kindly took the time to receive the torch before we headed out on the road.

Some members of the Austrian Army joined us for the first section of today's run, from Salzburg to Hallein.

They ran with us until we reached their barracks, at the military base of Glasenbach, where we had a powerful reception and got to see an excellent performance by the army band.

An officer pointed out that our goals are similar: to promote and to preserve peace!

By then the weather had cleared up and conditions were perfect for running. After a short search for one of our team members (non-European...) and a perfect run along the river Salzach, we reached the city of Hallein where we enjoyed some refreshments offered by the city representative.

Next stop was Kuchl, where the mayor and the head of tourism invited us for a short meeting. Further on, in Golling, the tourist office received the runners for some refreshments!

From Golling, it felt as though we were really entering the mountains. We followed the river Salzach as it cut its way through huge rocks and forest. This made our running extremely beautiful and enjoyable.

Many wonderful receptions followed: in Werfen, a sport school met us at the city limits and ran all way to the city hall. They had big cow bells and had tremendous fun making noise! The mayor was waiting for us and even ran a little stretch in his traditional leather trousers.

in Bischofshofen, another school joined us. The mayor organised refreshments and off we went.

A soldier joined us on the way to St. Johann, where a city representative and a drummer band welcomed us.

Next stop was Schwarzach, where lots of kids ran all the way to the fire station. The mayor was there and we took a short rest.

In Taxenbach, firefighters ran. After the meeting even the mayor joined, in despite his tight schedule. The firefighters also hosted some of our team members for the night!

Half-way to Bruck some runners joined us for the last stretch.

A city official was waiting for us in Bruck a.d. Glocknerstrasse, and made us feel really welcome! In these mountain villages, you can really feel a real sense of community that is often absent in larger towns. All the people we met today were so friendly and made us feel welcome in the Austrian Alps.

---

Distance: 101km

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 11 June

Austria 13 June >