After another delicious meal and kind hosting by members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, the World Harmony runners began their day with a visit to St John’s Catholic School, where teacher Sarah Hull has a remarkable relationship with the children.

The silent cheer, an excellent and effective ploy in expressing so many qualities in a unique manner.

The weather, though a little cool was sunny enough to allow the children into the playground to run with the torch.

It never ceases to be an energiser - school after school, day in and day out the torch is such a powerful symbol that runners cannot forget the message that the Harmony Run bears - that peace, friendship and love can and do shape the world in significant ways.

We thank St. John’s for its shining example, which gave us added inspiration as we left the centre of Bath and headed out to Bathampton. Many thanks also to Rosie, daughter of our coordinator Balavan Thomas, for taking pictures at our school visits.

Bathampton Primary School was the scene of something we have been taking great pains to avoid - setting off the fire alarm. The World Harmony runners were so engrossed in the presentation that they forgot that the fumes were building up inside the gym where the children were having their assembly and then the meeting. Fortunately the presentation was just about over and, as it happened, the school was due for a fire drill that week so they were able to take advantage of the situation and prevent the runners from being totally embarrassed.

Many thanks to Headmaster Paul Falkus for inviting the World Harmony Run to his school.

We look forward to coming back again next year.

The route then took the runners through some beautiful countryside along the A4, until we got to Chippenham. There’s something very strange that happens to the Harmony Run in Chippenham - like we always get lost. The last three Harmony runs have all involved some stress in and around the town. This year Ivana was running along the A4 on the right-hand side of the road and the van was parked on the left-hand side. Due to a series of amazing coincidences, no-one was looking out for Ivana and she sailed through the roundabout in an anti-clockwise direction and didn’t see the van. When Ondrej decided that we had a lost runner we immediately back-tracked and started going through all the possible options of what could have happened. One road brought the van into Chippenham but, having decided that this was a fruitless avenue, we turned the van into a side street to turn back out of the city and just as we were about to pull off, Ivana came running back out of the town; Ondrej saw her at the last possible moment and the day was saved.

After finding our runner again we were able to take it a little easier for a while as we approached Cherhill.

Wiltshire is White Horse country and Cherhill bears the second oldest of the Wiltshire horses having been cut in 1780 near the Oldbury Castle earthwork.

Just along the A4 from the horse is Silbury Hill, the tallest man-made prehistoric structure in Europe. Estimated to be 4,750 years old and to have taken 4 million man-hours to build, Silbury Hill continues to intrigue as to its purpose.

A little further up the road lies Avebury, one of the largest Neolithic monuments in Europe, dated at around 5,000 years old. It is a complex of stone circles with the remains of two avenues that used to wind out from the centre of the circles, to the east and to the west.

The last time the Harmony Run came through Avebury rain came down in great sheets and this year, the same thing happened as Ondrej carried the torch across the Ridgeway to Barbury Castle.

Through Wroughton and Swindon, the section finished with a gorgeous rainbow that Ondrej spent ages trying to photograph just before Shellingford, where the silver van team began.

The sun was setting as we reached Shellingford, the end of our running schedule and the runners made their way to Oxford where they stayed with friends.

Unusual sightings - phone box in a field.

Distance: 110km

Team Members:
Ondrej Vesely, Rosta Vagner, Katka Prusova, Ivana Nemacova (Czech Republic), Balavan Thomas, Abichal Watkins (Wales), Jarek Werner (Poland), Terezia Hammel (Hungary) Ieva Kurzemniece and Anette Klavina (Latvia), Annemarie Beumer (Netherlands)

Harmonemail:
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