Our day started this morning under a bright blue sky in Helsinki. What a welcome!

We had a special event with many diplomats, in the centre of Helsinki. The team ran in, and as we went on stage we introduced the Run and the countries we come from.

All the ambassadors went on stage and spoke very nicely about the Run. Our thanks go to the ambassadors of Czech Republic, Egypt, India, Latvia, Mexico, Slovakia and South Africa as well to the representatives of Austria, Estonia, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel and Peru for supporting the World Harmony Run!

After ending the ceremony with the World Harmony Run Song, our team and some runners from Helsinki headed north, escorted out of the city by the police.

Two of our new running friends decided to run the whole 70 kilometres with us today!

Some of our kilometres were on the marathon route of the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

In Hyrylä, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is also the patron of the World Harmony Run 2007 in Finland, Mr. Erkki Tuomioja, MP and the chairman of the Grand Committee welcomed us, along with more runners.

Together, we ran 9 kilometres through most beautiful Finnish countryside.

As we reached the community border of Hyvinkää, a group of runners was waiting for us. They covered the whole distance of 10 kilometres, all the way to the city.

In Hyvinkää a football game was going on in the stadium, so during the intermission we ran one symbolic lap while the World Harmony Run was announced.

After some refreshments, we said goodbye to our new friends and spent the evening in a typical Finnish way: near a lake, with a nice traditional sauna!

Distance: 70km

Team Members:
Dipavajan Renner, Sandra Aurenhammer and Martin Prettenhofer (Austria), Anita Borics (Hungary), Roger Rogge and Matthias Eckerle (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Ksenia and Daria Soboleva (Russian Fed.), Lenka Chobodicka (Slovakia)

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

Gallery: See more images!