Our last day in the Czech Republic was full of ceremonies and meetings and the amazing thing that the World Harmony Run does best - meeting some wonderful people.
One young child was very surprised to see the torch - it must have been his first sighting of a World Harmony Run torch.
Our first meeting was with children at a summer's camp in Vizovice. They had some great facilities at the summer camp, including an outdoor swimming pool, which looked so tempting for us, as it was already hot by 09.00. It was going to be another sweltering day. Although the children took a while to warm up, (children, sometimes, are not totally awake so early in the morning, and that also includes runners!) but by the end of the ceremony they were all chanting along with Ondrej, "Harmonie zacina u me!" ("Harmony starts with me!"). They were then fully revved up and ran around the grounds with the torch.
At Pozdechov we met some scouts and they were so full of life and enthusiasm, especially one older girl of the group.
The finale of the ceremony was the release of pigeons, as we watched them fly overhead.
At the small village of Prlov they awaited us with a their huge village flag and much refreshments. We met here very nice mayor with his grandchildren.
On the outskirts of Lidecko local runners joined us where the mayor greeted us and we especially enjoyed the local speciality sweet cake called 'frgal'.
At Horni Lidec some young local runners ran with us to their newly constructed athletics stadium. There the mayor mentioned how important sport was to bring people together and to create harmony between people and the idea of oneness.
Being so close to the Slovakian border he stated that he has close relationships with Slovaks and has a special relationship with the town of Luky. We would be visiting the mayor at Luky later and he wished us to send her greetings from him. He said he was not wearing his town's t-shirt, but to demonstrate his oneness he was wearing the t-shirt of Luky. We finally ran a circuit around the new track with a young female athlete and the mayor holding the torch together.
Our final meeting of this year's World Harmony Run in the Czech Republic was at the small town of Strelna where many children ran with us and the mayor treated us to some tasty croissants. We hurriedly ate them as we wanted to be on time for a ceremony arranged just across the Czech-Slovakian border.
As always border crossings can be frantic with saying goodbyes and hellos and as each country co-ordinators have tight schedules and each usually have ceremonies either side of the border, as was the case today.
Many special thanks to Libor our Czech country co-ordinator for making our stay in the Czech Republic such a joy and a wonderful occasion and thank you for Michaela for all your work with the media. The important use of radio, television, and newspaper enables the World Harmony Run to reach many, many more people than those people we meet and see us on the road.
As our passports were being checked at the border the Czech runners and the mayor from Strelna ran passed us to hand the torch over to the Slovakian mayor of Lysa pod Makytou. Once our passports had been checked we joined the children, mayors, and the Slovakian local runners for a ceremony where we were entertained by some great local singers, and enjoyed some delicious pastries.
Our next meeting was 10 km from the border to Luky, where we passed on the good wishes of the mayor from Horni Lidec. The mayor of Luky was very pleased and she spoke to us in French and Russian.
At Puchov the member of the City Parliament greeted us and once she had put the World Harmony Run t-shirt on she ran with the torch. Some young girls twirling batons entertained us.
In the town's square we cooled off in the fountain - it was bliss to put our heads under the cold running water.
At Nimnica some singers dressed in traditional Slovak costume gave us a beautiful welcome with a song. The mayor gave a heartfelt speech and his kind words all touched us. No Czech or Slovak ceremony could be complete without food or drink. They provided us with some fantastic homemade sheep's cheese and bread, and red wine (which of course we had to politely refuse - running and wine don't really go together!). As we ate and drank the singers sang us more songs, which we enjoyed and so did they.
On the road we met some great children as well as some nice seniors.
On the road to Povazska Bystrica we had a spare 10 minutes to have a quick swim in the lake with the forested mountains in the background. It was a perfect setting to cool down from the intense heat of the day.
As we approached the city of Povazska Bystrica nearly every passing motorist tooted his horn and waved. The reaction from people was great and so spontaneous. We met a representative from the Cultural Department of the city hall and were entertained by brilliant and energetic Slovak folk musicians who made some wishes for harmony.
Janko, our slovak runner was quite happy to meet his mother.
It was a superb end to our first day in Slovakia as we watched the sunset and a wonderful pink tinged sky.
Distance: 87km
Team Members:
Anete Klavina (Latvia), Bogdan Copil (Romania), Daniel Schenke (Germany), Jadranka Grbic (Serbia), 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:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.
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