Our boys team 'A' started running from the centre of Margaret River today, heading down the Bussell Hwy towards Busselton. The morning was quite wet and with the combination of the most traffic since Adelaide, we had a job to keep dry with the passing trucks. Luckily as we progressed down the road the shoulder improved giving us more room to escape the deluge when each truck passed.
The Margaret River region is famous for its vineyards ...
Boys team 'B' had started out nice and early ...
... and experienced some rain.
Our route took us close to the coast along some very beautiful beaches ...
... as well as some totally green forests.
Our third team – us girls – started running further along the highway, about 31 km out of Margaret River, leaving us only a quick 10 km to cover before taking a short detour from our route to visit the pretty town of Dunsborough ...
Here we were met by Cr John McCallum, who had heard about the Peace Run through his work at the Council and wanted to show his support ...
... our visit worked in perfectly with another program that he was involved in today – promoting walking to school. Along with the Principal, Garry Jones, they had started walking this morning and collected children all along the way until they had quite a crowd walking the final few steps into Dunsborough Primary.
At the school we were greeted by 705 enthusiastic students!
They had been learning Japanese and when one of our team members was playing the guessing game and spoke in Japanese, there was a deafening united response by about half the school.
When we started speaking about where we find peace within ourselves, one of the children at the front who had only just started at school, quietly but with certainty called out that we find peace in our heart.
The members of the school council were invited up to receive the Certificate of Appreciation ...
... at the conclusion the School Running Club, who had been working really hard over the last few weeks in preparation for a Fun Run this weekend, were invited to be representatives to run with the Torch while the rest of the school lined the oval.
Each student took turns to hold the Torch and lead the team around and they all made sure they all got to hold it.
Arriving a little early into Busselton, we made a slight detour to pay our respects to the beach ...
... before heading to West Busselton Primary School.
Alison and Will, parents of our southern Western Australia coordinator, Grahak Cunningham – who has done a really magnificent job of organising all our meetings and schedule for the past two weeks – met us outside the school.
This is Grahak's home town, and like his parents, we are all proud of his achievements, especially in winning the world's longest footrace last year – the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, in which he also set a new Australian record for the distance. Today he was our main presenter for the Peace Run ...
... at West Busselton Primary ...
The children here guessed the countries of our runners quite quickly, and showed a lively interest in the Peace Run.
After the indoors formalities, the children all formed a large circle around the basketball court and passed the Torch from student to student.
Meanwhile Boys Team 'B', having finished our kms, found we had a few minutes to enjoy Busselton. We called in at More Café ...
... which is currently exhibiting the artwork of Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the Peace Run.
There were also a number of quotes on display. We liked this one.
Having followed our own various schedules for the morning, all our three teams now converged in the centre of Busselton and ran down the main street, meeting local marathon runner Frank, who ran with the Torch to our scheduled meeting ...
... with the Mayor of Busselton, Ian Stubbs.
After a short presentation from Grahak and a rendition of our theme song, the Mayor (in the red jumper) spoke glowingly about what we were doing to raise the awareness of peace and welcomed us very warmly to the town.
There was quite a delegation of local officials gathered here, including Councilor Grant Henly ...
Event organisers, Deb and Peta did a marvelous job organising lunch for the runners at the Jetty Museum ...
... Lincoln from the Busselton-Dunsborough Mail, was also on hand to report on our team's arrival.
Two French-speakers in blue eating two sandwiches ...
We reluctantly left our kind hosts in Busselton to finish off our kms to Bunbury ... only about 10 km per team, but still another opportunity to get wet :-)
Harita and Baigal ran the last 5 km today for the team.
In Bunbury we met with reporter Leslee, and the photographer from the South Western Times, before our appointment at South Bunbury Primary School ...
... the intrepid photographer, risking life and limb for his art, even lay down on the road to take photos of us running ...
Our meeting with South Bunbury Primary School was presented by Prachar on his last day with the team (for now). His presentation included spontaneously inviting a singing contribution from a number of our international runners ...
... Ion's moving rendition of a traditional Romanian children's song, prompted two students, Sylvia and Sanela, to approach Ion and say their father had the same name and came from Romania. They had instantly recognised the song!
The children here – as in so many schools – were all enthusiasm, intensity and eagerness ...
... they really got inspired in performing the World Harmony Run Song, enthusiastically doing all the actions to go with the song.
Before heading outside, all the students were issued with their 'passports' for the 'Continents' game ...
Out on the oval they burnt up more energy running to each 'Continent' station to get their passports stamped ...
'Europe' was an especially popular destination today ...
An extra Torch was brought out, so everyone could have their chance to 'hold the Torch' ...
... at the end, the team was sent on our way with a rousing "Three cheers for the Peace Run team" ...
All our running done for the day, we headed to the Riverside Cabin Park, who also looked after the team in 2008. Ben, an extremely accomplished triathlete himself, was very happy to receive the team and proudly showed us the photo from our previous visit.
Erica, a resident of the Park and supporter of the Peace Run, with Ion and Grahak.
The Riverside Cabin Park is also the home of a Sri Chinmoy Street, joining with a collection of Sri Chinmoy streets in Australia and around the world.
The Bunbury City Council hosted a special reception to welcome the Peace Run to Bunbury this evening. The Mayor of Bunbury, Cr David Smith greeted us at the entrance to their Council Chambers ...
... and was joined by Councillors Murray Cook, Brendan Kelly and Ross Slater and their wives and partners, as well as WA MP Mick Murray, the Member for the neighbouring electorate of Collie-Preston, and local Baha'i representative Manou Foster and his wife.
We all moved into the Council Chambers to watch the Peace Run DVD on the wide screen and for group photos. Delicious and nourishing food was provided as the locals chatted convivially with our runners from various countries. We have certainly been made to feel at home here in Bunbury!
After our civic reception, it was time for the circus!
The Ashton family are the oldest circus troupe in Australia, having first put together a circus in Tasmania 160 years ago, and continuing ever since ...
... tonight's Circus Joseph Ashton features 5th, 6th and 7th generation performers from the same family.
We were astonished, mesmerised and enthralled by the skill, polish and exuberance of all the performers ...
During the intermission we were invited to the circus ring, to sing our Peace Run song and tell a little of the history and ideals of the Peace Run.
We were honoured and thrilled to present the Peace Run Torch-Bearer Award to Joseph Ashton on behalf of his whole family and troupe. Salil Wilson, our Executive Director spoke of how the circus brings innocent joy to all, especially children, and in bringing our childlike hearts to the fore, helps promote true peace and harmony, reminding us of the line in Sri Chinmoy's Peace Run song: "Oneness-world-heart-joy has begun!"
After intermission, the acts only got better!
After the performance we gathered again in the ring with all the troupe ...
... while some of them practised their acts, we talked and talked with the performers about their art and their lives on the road.
... it was a mingling of hearts as we shared our stories, experiences and laughter. We felt we gained instant friends in this remarkable family-troupe.
Thank you to everyone we met today – in Dunsborough, Busselton, Bunbury, at the circus and along the road – for another unforgettable day on the Peace Run!
