We woke early to the muffled roar of big trucking rigs ponderously making their way down State Highway One through the small town of Taihape. This was the day we had all been looking forward to, running through some of the North Island’s most beautiful countryside.

A swift breakfast, and out onto the main street, Chris leading us, torch held high, with the World Harmony Run song pulsating from the van through the town. We had been discussing the prospect of a major hill just out of town and he was extremely keen to tackle it.

We agreed to run in five or ten kilometre increments to give all the eager runners the chance to carry the torch. To Chris’s chagrin, the first 10 k leg was almost completely flat! The honour of battling that massive steep incline fell to Karl, who literally flew up there, while providing us with a non-stop stream of consciousness commentary. An example: “The fact that you’re carrying a heavy torch as you run is balanced by the inspiration of carrying the same torch.”

Finally, after a series of hills, tackled in turn by Uddipan, Tom, Aaron and Muslim, poor Chris found that elusive hill, and a mighty long steep one it was too!

Special mention must be made of the sterling running produced by our youngest team members. Kallola, Rupashri, Nelson and Omri who today transcended themselves by running further than ever before in their lives.

We reached Palmerston North at 1pm after passing through some spectacularly beautiful river gorge scenery then straight to our only school visit for the day. Talk about enthusiastic!

They sang us the World Harmony Run song, ran relays with the torch, hung spellbound on every word of Tom’s excellent presentation, and to top things off wore the cutest little yellow sunhats you ever saw! Even the teachers!

The Mayor of Palmerston North, Heather Tanguay, greeted us with smiles as the torch passed through her hands. “There should be more harmony in the world so make sure you never go to sleep at night with an unresolved disagreement,” were her encouraging words to the children.

We departed through a sea of waving hands, high-fiving as we went.

The Mid City Motel in Palmerston North was all heart when they saw us rolling (or should I say running) into town. They were more than happy to accommodate us for the night with enthusiasm for our mission.