We started at MIlano's border this morning with only half the team, as the other half left for South France.
Our first stop happened to be at the Runners World Magazine, where we met old friends.
The local police did an awesome job of guiding us through Milano's morning traffic.
We arrived safely in Saronno. As we ran in the city, a group of children greeted us enthusiastically with balloons! We passed the torch and improvised a short run.
A local running team joined in and carried the torch with our international team to the city hall, where many more kids waited. The city representative welcomed us and track legend Ito Giani took the torch, too. Nice refreshments were provided for all the runners afterwards.
We were already running out of Saronno, when suddenly another school was waitin for us and so, we changed the route - a detour we immediately welcomed. The kids lined up on both sides of the street and cheered us loudly. Finally, we ran out of town together for a few hundred metres.
As we reached Como, is was quite hard for our team to get through to our runner; the local police protected him so well that they caused a major traffic jam.
Coming into the centre of Como, groups of kids waited for us every few hundred metres, creating a great relay run through the whole city.
Finally, we reached a stage set up at Lake Como, which is most beautifully embedded in the mountains at the border of Italy and Switzerland.
The deputy mayor welcomed all the runners; world champion cyclist Dotti and motorcycle champion De Lillo also held the torch.
A group of very young runners carried the torch out of Como, towards the Swiss border.
Como and Saronno were a wonderful finale for 11 days of World Harmony Run Italy. Thanks for all the hospitality!
At the border, the president of the local CONI (Committee Olympic Nazionale Italia), Alberto Botta greeted us. Deputy mayors of both Como and Chiasso met us at the border, and the team went to Switzerland.
In Chiasso we ran through the pedestrian area to city hall, where the final meeting for today took place. The president of the sport committee joined us for the final group picture with the deputy mayor.
We appreciated the extremely nice food and accommodation offered by city hall. Thanks for the hearty welcome in Switzerland!
Team Members:
Dipavajan Renner and Tanja Potocnik (Austria), Anita Borics (Hungary), Jürgen Säger (Germany), Roos de Waart (Netherlands), Silvia Dinunzio (Italy)
Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.
Gallery: See more images!
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