A beautiful misty morning greeted us as we awoke in Killarney National Park....

However we couldn't savour the view for long - we had some running and school visits to do! Our first appointment was St Oliver's National School in Killarney town, where almost 600 enthusiastic pupils greeted us in their auditorium.

The students had prepared wonderful artwork and banners for our visit. To share our inspiration amongst so many smiling and enthusiastic faces was a great way to start the day!

We then left Killarney and continued on down the main road to Cork. Our next visit was to Scoil Aban in Ballyvourney, where the students made us feel very welcome.

The choir performed some very haunting traditional songs...

...and the tin whistle group even played happy birthday for Colm's birthday, which occurred the day before!

The principal of Scoil Aban receives our much deserved certificate of appreciation.

The team got a big send-off as they prepared to hit the road again and continue on towards Cork.

Our last visit for the day was in Coachford National School; the town of Coachford is very beautiful and well worth a visit. We managed to catch the students just before they left for home.

The students had prepared doves and other artistic creations on the theme of World Harmony. All three schools we visited today wowed us with their performances and artwork; especially remarkable since we we were not sure we would be able to come to any of the schools until late last week! There was due to be a nationwide teacher's strike on today, but it was cancelled, allowing us to go ahead with our visits.

Sometimes we like to play a little guessing game with the children where they guess which country we come from - here Katka from the Czech Republic is giving them a few clues.

Having lived in New York for the last 30 years, Sundar is clearly enjoying touring his native country...

After visiting Coachford it was on to Cork...these individuals seemed more interested in lunch than encouraging the runners as we passed by.

Below is a small selection of the ocean of smiling faces we see each day; it is your enthusiasm, inspiration and good will which keep us going. Thank you all so much or your encouragement.

In Cork, two hostels very kindly gave us accomodation for the night - we would like to thank Kinlay House for hosting the men's team...

and Shiela's Hostel for hosting the ladies' team.

– Salil Wilson

Distance: 127 km

Team Members:
Adhiratha Keefe (USA), Boijayanti Badillo-Gomez (Puerto Rico), Kallola Brown (New Zealand), Rupashri Brown (New Zealand), Salil Wilson (Australia), Purnendu Knezevic (Serbia), Sundar Dalton (Ireland), Katka Purusova (Czech Republic), Svetlana Gorschkova(Russia), Aivaras Zydelis (Lithuania), Colm Magee (Ireland), Baridhi Yonchev (Bulgaria), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Matthias Eckerle (Germany)

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

Gallery: See more images!