Let's meet the international team that will be taking part in our 14-day, 1400km run around the entire coastline of Ireland...

 

The Runners

Colm Magee (Ireland)

Colm is the overall coordinator of the Harmony Run in Ireland. Colm first participated in the Run in 2005, running through nine countries in the European leg of the run, and also participated in the Scandinavian leg of the Run the following year. In 2008, Colm ran from Sydney to Perth as part of an international team which circumnavigated the entire continent of Australia. A landscape gardener by trade, Colm is also an accomplished percussionist. (To contact Colm about the organisation of the Run, please see the details below)

 

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Salil Wilson (Australia)

Salil Wilson is the Executive Director of the World Harmony Run. Hefirst participated in the Run in 1987 in Australia and immediately fellin love with the event. Since 1990 he has lived in the US, and helped to grow the Run into the 100 nation event it is today. In October of 2004 Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the World Harmony Run, asked Salil toserve as Executive Director.

 

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Adiratha Keefe (USA)

Adhiratha joins us from New York. A member of the international civil service for over three decades, he has worked for the United Nations Secretariat, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). To honour the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations in 1985, Adhiratha became the first staff member of the UN to swim across the English Channel. He has travelled widely with the World Harmony Run, running through five African countries last year, and visiting Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia on behalf of the Run this year.

 

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Katerina Prusova (Czech Republic)

Katerina is no stranger to Ireland, having travelled here twice before with the Harmony Run team. A gift shop assistant by occupation, Katka describes the Run "as not just about running, it´s also about meeting other people, gettingnew inspiration, learning friendship and tolerance and mainly about joy." She has also developed a very special fondness for Ireland - "This beautiful country with kind and friendly people just captured my heart and I can´t stop running there!"

 

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Sundar Dalton (Ireland)

Sundar is originally from Belfast, but has been living in New York for over 30 years. Even before the Harmony Run began, Sundar was an active organiser in many of Sri Chinmoy's other grassroots initiatives - among other things, he helped facilitate a meeting between Sri Chinmoy and President Éamon de Valera in Arás on Uachtaráin in 1973. Sundar was an outstanding athlete in his youth and still achieves very respectable times in marathons and half-marathons at the age of 57. He also finds the time to help organise a two mile race in Queens, New York every Saturday morning.

 

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Stanislav Zubaty (Czech Republic)

Stanislav is a World Harmony Run veteran, having participated in Runs in Europe and America since 1997. Last year he ran around the entire continent of Australia as part of an international WHR team. For Standa, what makes the Run so special is that it is "a bringing together of people from different cultures, nations andbeliefs, so we can all live in a more tolerant and loving world, withno barriers between us. "

 

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Baridhi Yonchev (Bulgaria)

Baridhi coordinates all the World Harmony Run activities in his native Bulgaria whenever the Run visits there. For Baridhi, the community-based grassroots nature of the Run is what appeals to him: "We cannot achieve world harmony and peace by imposing our views and beliefs on others." he writes. "A much needed change can dawn in our lives by becoming aware that the world is a one big family, and although we are all different we can live in harmony."

 

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Svetlana Gorshkova (Russia)

As well as being the Russian Coodinator of the European leg of the Run, Svetlana has travelled with the international team throughout Europe.

 

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Boijayanti Gomez-Badillo (Puerto Rico)

Boijayanti participated in the closing section of the America Run last year. In addition to being a fast runner, Boijayanti also organises athletic and triathlon races in the New York area where she resides.

 

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Purnendu Knezevic (Serbia)

Purnendu hails from Serbia, and works as a restaurant waiter. Last year, he was part of the international team that ran across Canada.

 

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Rupashri and Kallola Brown (New Zealand)

Rupashri and Kallola are joining the Run all the way from Auckland in New Zealand. The two sisters have participated in the New Zealand leg of the Run for many years, but this the first time that they have gone 'international'! Last year both of them participated in the most ambitious New Zealand Run so far, spanning the entire length of New Zealand from the northern most tip of the North Island to the southern most of the South Island. "When I heard that the World Harmony Run was happening in Ireland, I jumped at the chance to go.", writes Rupashri. Kallola adds: "I’m really excited to be seeing Ireland in such a cool way while on the Harmony Run, as I’ve heard so much about it and always wanted to experience it for myself."

 

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Matthias Eckerle (Germany)

Mathias has twice participated in the European leg of the Harmony Run in 2007 and 2008. He has a personal marathon best of 2:58 and is currently training to run longer distances such as 100k.

 

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Aivaras Zydelis (Lithuania)

Aivar is originally from Lithuania, and has been living in Ireland forthe past three years. This will be Aivaras's first World Harmony Runtour.

 

 

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The Organising team...

 

Colm Magee

Overall cordinator
Local co-ordinator Derry, Westport-Limerick
On-the-road media contact

Ph: 086 7944828

 

Ambarish and Mangala Keenan

Local co-ordinators, Waterford-Dublin

Closing Ceremony coordinators
TV liasons

Ph: 085 1450880
Fax: 01 2962439

 

Gary Foran

Local coordinator, Letterkenny - Westport
Dublin schools liason

Ph: 086 3508845

 

Paula Flood

Local co-ordinator, Belfast - Ballycastle
Dublin events

Ph: 087 2071530

 

Nirbhasa Magee

Coordinator: Limerick-Youghal
Print and radio media liason
Website mantainer

Ph: 086 0861874

 

If you would like to participate, or would like to have your community get involved in the Run, then please contact us on any of the above numbers.