This morning we had a great start to the day - we met with part of the junior national karate team from Prague area, Hradec Kralove and Sokolov. They were doing their intensive morning training at 8 o'clock on a mountain road in the cold rain and fresh mountain air. They energised us with their strong and healthy appearance. We exchanged our sports inspiration and ran with them for a while. What a powerful and enthusiastic start to the day! Thank you for your inspiration and good luck with your competitions!
Our group then split into two teams, to cover the 215 kilometres to Prague.
Team A: from Zadov to Blatna
The first group had another spontaneous meeting at the village of Radesov with the children camp âKlub Ceskych turistuâ ( The Club of Czech Tourists ). The kids were between 5 and 16 years old and we stood among their meeting place between their tents and playground where we had a presentation about our run and we ran with them around the campground to make them a member of the harmony run, too!
Later on we met with Honza Patak from Kasperske Hory - a very cheerful runner with deep lungs, who became our true friend.
He ran with us for 15 kilometres, to the city of Susice where we met the mayor, Mr. Petr Mottl. He invited us to come back again, not as harmony runners with just 30 minutes, but as visitors with a little more time to see the beautiful city. For safety reasons we did not visit local famous matches factory :-).
Our Czech team runners are very enthusiastic; they wave to many people on the road and exchange smiles everywhere we go. We also hand out flyers to surprised people who are wondering about the run. Many people thought it was an Olympic flame running towards Beijing; our harmony torch does symbolise a similar ideal of uniting people and cultures through sports and bringing the higher aspirations of mankind to the fore.
On our way we ran through the town of Rabi, famous for its castle which is a great tourist attraction. You can climb the walls there, walk (or run) through its courtyard and practice archery just like Robin Hood. Our team captain, Ondrej from Prague spontaneously gave a presentation for visitors to the castle and we performed our World Harmony Run Song at this very unique location.
At the end of the afternoon we met with about 70 kids at another youth camp in Hrachov. When we came running in everyone was playing games, together despite their wide range of ages - from 5 to 16 years. Part of our presentation was having the kids guess which countries international runners come from when they spoke in their mother tongue. They showed such enthusiasm and quickly guessed all of our backgrounds. It was also a pleasure to look at the faces of children during the next part of the program, when the torch went from hand to hand and children made their wishes for harmony.
Afterwards our group faced some interesting questions from the kids about our journey and our running shoes â¦
Finally we ran with them around their playground, symbolically but dynamically.
We then drove to meet team B at Jilove u Prahy.
Team B: from Blatna to Jilove u Prahy
This part of the run started at City Hall, Blatna where we met with the mayor Mr. Josef Hospergr, councilors, sportsmen and school children. It was a really nice meeting, full of open-hearted smiles and kind words.
From Blatna, a group of five cyclists accompanied us for about 8 kilometres, up to Lake Labut (The Swan) near Mystice.
From Mystice, we tried to speed up and divided into three smaller teams that covered separate distances. We reconvened at a place called Onen svet (The Other World) and continued together to a childrens camp, "Capi letka" (The Stork Air Squadron) near the village of Mokrice. As we introduced ourselves, sang our song and shouted our motto "Harmony begins with me", they also sang their songs and shouted their club mottos. We passed the torch to them and ran together around the camp. Then about 30 children joyfully accompanied us on the run for about 3 kilometres of hilly terrain, to beyond the next village of Vrbice.
Our next meeting point was the town of Sedlcany. We were warmly welcomed by vice mayor Ing. Ludek Scharf and the town museum director Mgr. David Hroch.
They explained to us the history of the town, showed us the museum (one of the most interesting things was the remains of an aeroplane from World War II that fell on the town). We appreciated delicious cookies made especially for us, they were so good!
We continued through peaceful and undulating countryside up to Kamenny privoz, a village where we met with the mayor of Jilove u Prahy, Mr. Ladislav CmelÃk. The mayor, being a former cyclist (nowadays he trains a young soccer team) ran the whole 5 kilometres uphill (a very steep incline of more than 150 vertical metres difference) in a very fresh style.
At the main square, the runners were welcomed by town councillors Mrs. Kveta Trckova and Mr. Jiri Furbacher.
The remainider of today's route from Jilove u Prahy to Prague was covered by Czech runners.
Thank you very much boys, for your dedication!
Distance: 215km
Team Members:
Andrea Fidrmuc (Austria), Annemijn Schuringa (Holland), Friederike Makowka (Switzerland), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Roger Rogge (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Vladimir Salnikov (Moldova)
Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.
Gallery: See more images!
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