This morning we bade a warm farewell to Abhinabha’s father, who hosted the boys at his house, and to the little hotel that treated the girls like queens. We caught up with the Dutch runners who already started running towards Elst. Today is the first whole day in Holland and the route is going from Nijmegen to Epe. We will cross the Veluwe, one of the most beautiful forest areas of Holland. Just before Elst we met Frank, Frank and Mark, the Dutch delegation for the next few days. It’s great to meet our friends again, and above all the team can definitely use some fresh legs!

From Elst we continued towards Arnhem. We crossed the Arnhem bridge. This is the famous ‘Bridge Too Far’ where the Germans and allied troops fought heavily in September 1944, destroying the better of central Arnhem in the process. Arnhem is now though a beautiful city with almost an English look about it with nice spacious parks and a lot of water. We arrived a little late at the first school; the Panorama School. Actually Frank went to school here (many, many years ago, as he himself asserted). Some of the kids were already enthusiastically waiting for us at the beginning of the street leading up to their school. They joined us in a little relay for the last hundred meters. They were so fast! This school had done an amazing job in preparing a nice reception for us. All the different classes made something for us, drawings, poems and even fruit salads!

What was more they learned the World Harmony Run Song and sang it very nicely for us. The local television was also present and took some nice shots as we ran around the block with the children. Quite a few children requested our autographs and as usual when they had no paper they wished us to write on their arm.

Leaving Arnhem the Dutch boys took on the running and the International Team visited the famous ‘ Open Air Museum ’.

The scenery is getting really nice now; rolling hills, grassy meadows and big forests. Considering how busy the rest of Holland is this area is really quiet and peaceful.

Through little winding roads we reached the famous Posbank and made our way to Zutphen. Then suddenly everything started to go wrong! One of the vans got a flat tyre, Frank Stassen got lost somewhere on the Posbank and Annemarie got a 75 euro fine because she forgot to put on her seatbelt! (Actually Nataliya also didn’t wear her belt, but since she is from the Ukraine the police decided not to give her a fine). Due to all this we arrived terribly late in Zutphen and had to split up the team to visit the different schools (and get the car fixed).

Annemarie, Karin, Klaus and Nataliya went ahead to the Vrije School and got a very nice reception there. They also got a big bag with nice pastries, which we devoured later during the day!

The others came later and went directly to the Montessori-school in the Govert Flinckstraat. The kids saw us coming through the windows of the school and immediately came out. They all sat on the grass and listened attentively to Mark who introduced us and entertained them with funny questions and of course the language-game (they have to guess from which country we are from). Just when he asked how old they thought he was he got a little shock, as the first reply was 48 years, which was exactly the same number that the kids at the last school also told him. At the beginning of the World Harmony Run they usually guessed him 25, so I guess he needs a little rest soon.

The kids also prepared some nice sandwiches for us themselves which they presented to us on big trays.

From this school we ran a few hundred meters to the other Montessori-school in the Paulus Potterstraat. The enthusiasm of the kids there was incredible. Our ceremony with them was very rewarding because they all were completely into it shouting out the answers to whatever we asked them.

The children guessed correctly from which different countries we were and so we had to sing our song for them as we had promised them earlier. They were clapping happily along with us! Afterwards they sang ‘Berend Botje gaat uit varen’, a famous Dutch children-song, for us. Highlight as always was running around the schoolfield with all the kids. Now they all are real members of our team. Welcome all of you!

After Zutphen we followed the River IJssel to come to Deventer. In the bright afternoon sun the peaceful rural scenery was enfolding its beauty for us.

Along the way we encountered many children and many bikes, some older than others.

The weather is absolutely fabulous today and we are really enjoying our running this afternoon. In the city of Deventer we parked our vans just before the bridge over the river and ran from there all together to the old people’s home ‘Groote en Voorster’.

The old people welcomed us warmly and benevolently as only the wisdom of many years of life can do.

They also introduced us to the game ‘koersbal’ a local traditional game that resembles jeu the boule. We had a go but we definitely need some more practice before we can compete with them!

We continued along the IJssel for some time and quickly covered the last 20 kilometres to Epe.

At the entrance of the city Fred, youth-coach at the local athletics club Cialfo was already waiting for us. He guided us the remaining three kilometres to the club. About 25 kids of the club ran with us for the last few hundred meters and one lap around the track. It was obvious they were used to running.

The reception at Cialfo was extremely nice. The children and also their parents were extremely friendly and interested.

As the sun was slowly setting we all stood outside and talked about the World Harmony Run.

Afterwards we got treated with a delicious meal! We, means all of us except for Nataliya. In spite of having run already about 20 kilometres today, she still hit the track for a little speed session. She is a running addict!

Now it is really getting time to take a shower. The Golden Tulip Hotel in Epe graciously supplied us with a wonderful accommodation.

It’s a good start of our Dutch adventure (in spite of some small problems!). It was an eventful and challenging day!

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Distance: 105km

Team Members:
Annemarie Beumer (Holland), Frank de Lange (Holland), Frank Stassen (Holland), Karin Wijnkoop (Holland), Klaus Schulz (Germany), Mark Collinson (England), Mark Hoogakker (Holland), Marton Fekete (Hungary), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Vladimir Ilaysov (Russia).

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

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