Team A

This morning our team was the first to leave Timaru.

We ran out of the city, and into the baking heat of the flat roads leading to Christchurch.

We were surrounded by flat fields filled with grazing cows and sheep. Small rivers flowed freely beneath bridges, and the snow-capped mountains shimmered invitingly in the distance.

The sun was hot and our runners, used to the freezing cold we had experienced in Wanaka and on the Haast Pass, were taken by surprise.

But along with the heat came a light breeze, and stunning azure skies which made for delightful running.

When our team reached Christchurch, our entire team were invited to eat lunch at The Lotus-Heart Restaurant in the main square. The staff provided a delicious complimentary meal, which topped off a lovely day.

– Rupashri Brown

Team B

On the World Harmony Run, one soon comes to realise that this is about experiencing all kinds of scenery, in all kinds of weather. Today's weather was wind.

The three teams were today covering the distance from Timaru to the outskirts of Christchurch: the Canterbury Plains. The road, like the plains themselves, is long, flat, and endless. On a sunny day the view is, of course, spectacular: the immensity of the snow-capped Southern Alps provides a majestic background to an ocean of grass, speckled with sheep, and rippling in waves with the wind.

Dust swirls around the van, cars roar past, and cows congregate near the fence wherever we stop.

The serenity of the plains, however, did little to relieve the realities of running in a southerly gale. This wind is well known in Canterbury for parching throats, exacerbating allergies, and blowing over trees – even in the city. In this blustery weather, keeping a flaming torch alight was no mean feat! One by one the boys got out to do their running, and eventually returned looking hot, dehydrated, but happy.

As I began my 8 km stretch, I tried at first to take in the vast beauty before me, but soon the buffets of the wind and the stiffness of my limbs honed my concentration down to a few simple thoughts...

Keep running ...

not long to go now ...

Relight the torch ...

keep Hope alive ...

Must remember ...

we are nearly there...

– Andrew Davies

Team C

The morning started with catching up on the previous day's reports.

Our penultimate day's journey from Timaru to Burnham can simply be described as windy. Tremendous gusts would move trees, grass and road poles into a swaying symbiosis of choreographed dancers. All the nearby ski resorts were closed, recording wind speeds of up to 200 kph. Fortunately for us, this was a tail wind – pushing us towards our destination, willing us, whether we wanted or not, towards home.

The wind wanted to be everywhere and do everything – to help and to hinder us – from pushing us along, to flinging open car doors, to pulling down limbs off the rocking pines, and extinguishing the Torch flame.

We literally sailed into Burnham. Tomorrow the World Harmony Run team runs the final marathon into a dramatic Closing Celebration in Christchurch, where fellow peace-lovers and harmony-dreamers will gather at Cathedral Square.

– Grahak Cunningham

Team Members:
Muslim Badami (India), Erika Pongracz, Gabor Horvath (both Hungary), Lubos Svec (Czech Republic), Anubha Baird, Nina Diaz, Grahak Cunningham, Nigel Webber, Prachar Stegemann, Simahin Pierce (Australia), Rupashri Brown, Suradhuni Anderson, Tania Williams, Kate Carvalho, Susan Marshall, Tom McGuire, Andrew Davies (all New Zealand)

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