Two of our team – Abhinandan and Bayarkhuu – started the day by running from Richmond into Melbourne City, past all the famous landmarks: the MCG, Tennis Centre etc. to Flinders St and to a small ferry terminal to catch the Punt boat to Williamstown.
Several passerby were delighted to hold the peace Torch on their way to work, including Dan.
After a 15 km run they settled in for their breakfast. Over their breakfast they caught up with some recent online media articles covering the Peace Run: this wonderful report in the Corowa Free Press covered the team's first school visit in Victoria in Rutherglen; while the Riverine Herald and the Shepparton News both kindly presented this excellent piece on the team's visit to Sacred Heart Primary School in Yarrawonga.
The rest of the boys then took over running to Altona Beach. This was a very attractive run beside the ocean.
From the boys' finishing point ...
... the girls team had a short 4 km run along the waterfront, bringing us into ...
... Altona Green Primary School. Here the school captains Georgia, Violet, Xavier and Mason greeted us.
They led us into the ceremony in an open-air staging area.
The students guessed the countries-of-origin of each of our team members so quickly it was impressive! ... even Mongolia was guessed first go.
The school captains returned to the stage to receive the Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of the school.
Everyone then moved from the covered area to the large school oval for everyone to hold the Torch and make their wish for peace.
All too soon we departed and started making our way to Geelong. The girls team had an additional 30 km to run for the day.
Taking the back roads we ran through the countryside with the help of our GPS.
With so many turns and dirt roads to contend with, a little ‘pocket local’ was what we needed.
All runners made it safely back to the van with happy hearts, having spent the morning with such an enthusiastic group of students, and then some delightful moments of pure silence in the countryside.
Our boys team meanwhile was running a further 25 km between Werribee and Geelong, enjoying the quiet traffic on the backroads and the wide grassy shoulders.
On entering Geelong we were once again back in a city with Sarankhuu having to wait for 2 trains only 30 metres from completing his running for the day!
