On the very hot afternoon of December 31, the World Harmony Run participated in Guatemala City's extremely popular annual San Silvestre 10km fun run, the largest athletic event in Central America. A large group of us had the honour of leading the field of over 7000 runners in the race from its starting point outside the Mayor's office.

The carnival atmosphere made the whole event a lot of fun. Guatemalans are certainly exuberant!! There was plenty of music over loudspeakers; cheering crowds lining the streets and many of the runners had prepared spectacular costumes.

There were men dressed in frocks, superheroes, butterflies, the pope, and even a few legions of Roman soldiers that ran in battle formation. A popular favourite was a young guy that ran in sandals with leopard skins over his body, a huge fan of peacock feathers behind his back, and a giant blue macaw (alive) balanced peacefully on his forearm.

The World Harmony Run runners looked so bright and beautiful as then group came into the stadium to cross the finish line. We were greeted by roars from both the commentator and the estimated 20,000-strong crowd and we finished by singing the World Harmony Run song with great gusto. The event was covered by all the nation's media, with our team leader, Purnahuti Wagner giving 5 radio interviews right there in the stadium.

Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine) was our fastest male team member with a finish time of approximately 34 minutes and 4th overall for this high-altitude run, while Jayasalini Abramovskikh from Russia was our fastest femaleteam member (6th overall).

Many 'athletes' held the World Harmony Run torch, as the final event of the World Harmony Run for 2009 was held amidst tremendous joy and celebration.

– Tavishi Matthews

Distance: 10 km

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