We would like to express our gratitude to the Ibis Old Town hotel for providing such excellent accommodation for all three nights that part of our team spent in Prague. We really felt at home there and should you travel to Prague, we truly recommend this hotel.
Early in the morning, we had to drive to Hradec Kralove, where we finished running on Friday (see our complicated schedule :-)).
The first ceremony today took place in the sublime atmosphere of a blossoming park, Jiraskovy sady in Hradec Kralove.
Many people, including our distinguished guests, gathered near the pavilion.
Among them was a member of the Czech Parliament, Mr. Ing. David Kafka. He said: âIt is true, that we can find harmony in ourselves, if we stop for a moment in our life and look for it. As this run is a collective effort, it doesnât only cover distances among places on Earth, but also creates closeness among people, which in not so common in todayâs world.â
Our next guest, the deputy mayor of Hradec Kralove, Ing. Pavla Finfrlova said: âBesides harmony, people need also humility to realise that we are only a tiny part of the world and just one of many, many species on Earth.â
Running legend Ing. Jiri Soukup from Liga 100 running club introduced even more runners from the Hradec Kralove region. We were very glad too, that well-known folk singer Pavel Dobes accepted our invitation to todayâs ceremony; he came with his wife and their little son, Kuba. His songs are full of optimism, humour and harmony.
Bzum, bzum, nejde mi to do kebule ...
Mgr. Ondrej Tikovsky, the chancellor of the University of Hradec Kralove was also present.
Prof. Dr. Jiri Skopal and his singing group Jitro (The Morning) said: âWe travel across the world with the same goal as you - to establish friendship and shake hands with people in different countries and from different continents.â The group performed its own arrangement of the World Harmony Song.
Skutecne dobre Jitro
The ceremony finished with a nice group photo.
Then a big group of runners and cyclists (including Ing. Soukup, prof. Skopal with some members of the Jitro singing group) ran through the city of Hradec Kralove and beyond ...
This is a picture of one of the most cheerful radio reporters we met on our journey. Eva Boudova not only ran with our harmony torch, but also conducted a long interview with us on the Czech national radio channel in Hradec Kralove. Meeting people like her confirms our experience that there are many good people doing good things in this world. Thank you very much, Eva!
The next stop was at the town of Holice. The mayor, Mr. Pavel Hladik provided us with very good refreshments and joined us for more than 500 metres.
From the beginning of Usti nad Orlici, local police cars guided us to a shady spot next to a restaurant. We were awaited there by the deputy mayor Mgr. Lubos Bauchel, local press and television reporters and very good, cold refreshments - very helpful in todayâs temperature over 35 degrees Celsius.
In Laskroun, we were welcomed in front of the old renaissance city hall by the mayor Ing. Martin Kostal and other town representatives. Once again, we were happy to be treated to some refreshments and a short tour of the town hall (it was nice and cold inside :-)).
From Lanskroun we were accompanied by Eva Jiraskova, a mountain runner from the sport club ISCAREX. We admire how often she takes part in running races; she had already competed this morning, as well as yesterday - basically, twice every weekend.
For her, it was an easy course, as the road was more hilly, but the sun was still shining and blazing ...
In the town of Zabreh we were guided by the local police all the way to the athletic stadion. Here the mayor Ing. Zdenek Kolar and chairman of Zabreh Athletic Club welcomed us with generous servings of the drinks that we needed so much in todayâs hot weather.
Finally, we reached the tourist camp in Mohelnice, where we were warmly received by the deputy mayor of Mohelnice, Mr. Vitezslav Smelka.
After such a hot day we were pleasantly suprised by a cold swimming pool and a very good dinner. In the evening, we made a camp-fire.
Of course, we sang traditional songs accompanied by excellent musicians Martin, Pavel, Libor and Michaela. What a nice evening!
Distance: 134km
Team Members:
Andrea Fidrmuc (Austria), Annemijn Schuringa (Holland), Arthur Schafer (Germany), Jadranka Grbic (Croatia), Jaroslav Werner (Poland), Namitabha Arsic (Serbia), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Prafulla Nocker (Switzerland), Roberto Barth (Germany), Roger Rogge (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Vladimir Salnicov (Moldova)
Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.
Gallery: See more images!
|
< Czech Republic 14 July |
Czech Republic 16 July > |