A very special thanks to staff and management of Pincher Creeks Ramada Inn for, not one but two evenings of great service and excellent rooms provided to us complementary. Pincher Creek is right at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains so we got the best of both worlds for two nights - snow capped mountains to the west and the vast blue prarie skies of the east.

Today the World Harmony Run went back to the wild wild West! As we ran along Alberta's ‘Cowboy Trail' toward the Bar-U Ranch we saw lots and lots of cows, bulls, calves and horses.

When we got there we were greeted by an authentic Cowboy-Mike McLean- with spurs and all.

Ken Pigeon, the site manager, prepared a wagon ride for us with two horses- Radar and Hawkeye.

They gave us a tour of the site, some of the equipment and buildings dated back to the late 1800's. Did you know that the origins of the cowboy tradition come from the hacienda system of medieval Spain?

My favorite part of the ride was when we crossed the river; it was really bumpy so you had to hold on to the sides.

At "roundup camp" we had some tasty cowboy coffee heated over a fire.

Then they let us try roping on some wooden cows- ‘Ropey' and ‘Dopey'. Some of our members got really into it and even contemplated a new career path...

Mike is officially the new World Harmony Run poster boy for Alberta!

The Stampede Showriders (a group of talented young girls who are all volunteers) had their horses looking great and ready to go for a ride!

Jamee Dewit accepted a Torch-Bearer Award on behalf of the Stampede Showriders for their dedicated volunteer contributions and committed service to their community.

This year the Stampede celebrates its 100 year anniversary as we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we were glad that we were able to join forces on this significant year!

They road towards Longview while carrying the World Harmony Run torch and flags; we followed closely behind at a brisk walking pace. Everyone was smiling, honking and waving as they passed by. A team of 11 horseback riders definitely draws attention!

We had a really fun day and our international team members got a real flavour of the Albertan culture.

They also got a flavour of some nice ice cream sandwiches.

Sarvagata –an incredible runner and very valuable member of our team– had a birthday today! He tried hard to keep this a secret but luckily information travels fast. We surprised him with a delicious cake, thanks to Wendy from the Hay Wire Café who baked one for us at last minute notice. Happy birthday Sarvagata!

Running, running, running!

Passing the torch...

This day in Alberta was anything but a slow Sunday.

-Brahmata

Video Mesage from Davidson Hepburn, President (2009 - 2011) of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for 25th Anniversary of the World Harmony Run and a vision for the decade: "Toward a Oneness-World". With FRENCH subtitles

Full Text of the 25th annversary message and link to 25 language informal Translations: http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/25

• Youtube video on African experience which illustrates IYY slogan "Our Year Our Voice" International Year of Youth - Zambia World Harmony. They surprisingly mention Presidents and UN Secretary-General in a unique way!

• Listen to the World-Harmony-Run song: 2 min version // 6 min

Team Members:
Brahmata Michael (Canada), Daniel Stewart (Canada), Yatkara Aleksapolskyy (Ukraine), Sarvagata Ukrainskyi (Ukraine), Dimitriy Dudko (Ukraine), Varunavi (Slovakia), Amburoha (Ukraine), Gautami (Slovakia), Manoshri (Slovakia)

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