Our day started with meeting the mayor of Telc in the city hall, and meeting again the representative of Telc Cultural Department who we met yesterday evening. The mayor stated that 300,000 visitors come to Telc, most by car and bus, and some by cycle, but he continued that this must be the first time visitors have run to Telc.

He added that he would have to promote this idea of running to Telc as a tourist attraction. As he was a keen sportsman himself, especially football, (but since he became mayor he said that he hadn't had the time to do much sport) he valued the importance of such a sporting activity of bringing people together. He kindly presented us with gifts that included a DVD about the city.

Outside the city hall in the beautiful large city square he ran with us for a few steps with the torch.

We headed out of the city and ran alongside one of the large ponds that surround Telc accompanied by three nice local runners.

It was a splendid morning and the mayor mentioned that it was going to be one of the hottest days of the summer. Even so early in the morning we certainly felt it whilst running, and the sun was scorching.

Some local runners ran with us to the outskirts of the city and then we headed a few kilometres into the lush countryside to visit a children's summer camp. There we held a ceremony with over 100 children.

They were all quite impressed how we were running today in such hot conditions. When the talking is over it is always the most enjoyable moment when the children run with the torch, so that they can experience the thrill of running with the torch.

They always tend to run so fast once they have in their grasp, and at times it can be rather difficult to get them to slow down. They simply enjoy running with the torch and passing it to their friends.

At the entrance of the summer camp two young girls ran with us to say goodbye as we ran to Trebic, 35 km away. At Trebic we met the vice-mayor. He deeply apologised that the mayor could not come and meet us, but he was engaged in an important meeting. He made up for his absence by generously providing us with much needed refreshments, muesli bars, and fruit. We ran through the town's square photographed by the local media. As we passed people we waved and shouted "Ahoj!" (Czech for 'Hello') and they waved back with a smile and shouted "Ahoj!"

We then ran to Namest nad Oslavou, 22 km away, located on the banks of the river Oslava. We were joined by a few local runners and some children accompanied us to the town hall where we met the mayor.

In the small entrance of the hall with its high ceilings and great acoustics our singing of the World Harmony Run Song sounded powerful. Afterwards the mayor was so moved he said that this was the best moment of his week, and then remarked, possibly the best moment of his month.

We certainly felt as we had opened our hearts to him he had responded by opening his heart to us. He also kindly provided us with tasty baguettes. From the town hall we ran with the mayor and the children who had accompanied us in the town hall over the famous old bridge.

Ten kilometres west of Brno we entered Strelice where Ondrej's sister, Bara, joined us to run the final 12 km of the day to Modrice, an outlying suburb of Brno. Ondrej was very happy to see her again after almost half year.

At Strelice the very smiley mayor warmly greeted us in the heat of the afternoon. His generosity was overwhelming with so much refreshments and food to feed an army. What went down really well were the huge slices of melon.

We received similar generosity at the small village of Ostopovice. Some boys complete with their huge village flag ran with us where the mayor awaited us in the courtyard of the neighbouring church. She had considerately provided us with a hose to cool down on such a hot day. It was much appreciated and we all took full advantage of it and Petar quickly got the hose and sprayed water on us all.

We were gladly drenched with the cool water, but as soon as we started running again to Modrice we were dry within a few minutes.

In Modrice, a suburb of Brno, we ended our day's running. It had been a challenging day of running in such hot conditions but our task had been made much easier by the kindness, generosity and consideration of the mayors in providing us with so much drink and food. Thank you, we are all eternally grateful for your hospitality.

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Distance: 98km

Team Members:
Anete Klavina (Latvia), Bogdan Copil (Romania), Daniel Schenke (Germany), Jadranka Grbic (Serbia & Montenegro), Jarek Werner (Poland), Mark Collinson (England), Marlen Bernhard (Germany), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Petar Mihaylov (Bulgaria), Svetlana Gorshkova (Russia), Valentine Bebik (Ukraine), Zoltan Theobald (Hungary).

Harmonemail:
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