Today was fabulous. The girls team ran early from Meningie towards Tailem Bend into the sunrise. It was chilly but oh so beautiful.
As we started running this morning we were buoyed in knowing that this would be our last day of significant mileage with only 107 km standing between us and our goal of 3479 km.
It was a magnificent day for running. The Adelaide Hills are particularly delightful when bathed in glorious sunshine.
Both teams met up ...
... with Sipra Lloyd, our Peace Run Coordinator from Adelaide at the local football game in Murray Bridge. Sipra was involved with the organisation of the inaugural Peace Run in 1987 in South Australia so, of course, it was a great privilege for the Team to see her.
Mayor Brenton Lewis and Club President Phil Rance met the team at the Imperial Football Club in Murray Bridge.
We are very grateful to them for welcoming us so warmly.
We ran a lap of the oval during the half-time break with some assistance from a few younger members of the crowd.
After the local football presentation we began running through the Adelaide Hills, taking the beautiful back roads through numerous little towns.
All was going fabulously until we lost our best runner, Naraa from Mongolia. We drove down different roads looking for her for quite some time with no success. Then... we spotted a police car. We decided to pull over and ask for help.
As we got out of the car, to our great joy, Naraa jumped out of the police car! It was a very happy reunion. The police had seen her running down a road looking a little lost and came to her rescue. These South Australian policemen were extremely nice and we are very grateful for their assistance. Sometimes seeming mishaps turn into great joys and that was certainly the case in this instance today.
Next stop - Hahndorf.
We had a great time running down the Main Street of Australia’s oldest German settlement.
Hahndorf was full of locals and tourists from around the world, and we had a great time sharing the Torch with many of them.
Sarankhuu had recovered extremely well in light of his 36 km effort from yesterday.
Finishing our final kilometres into Stirling we met many special people including Thomas who was out running when we met him. He changed the direction of his run and ran with us for a while. When you meet lovely children like Thomas it is always so easy to feel our future is in the best of hands.
Our final meeting for the day for the girls team was perhaps our most important. Right into the kitchen of our dear friend Padmalaya to pick up the scrumptious lasagne dinner she had been cooking for us. Here we also met up with another dear friend Januja, who gave us a big tray of much-too delicious chocolate brownies.
Right across the road from the Adelaide Cathedral...
... is the Sri Chinmoy Peace Mile, an appropriate place to end our day's running, a mere few kilometres away from our finish at Adelaide Parliament House; the exact location at which the inaugural Australian Sri Chinmoy Peace Run started 30 years ago.
Meanwhile for the boys team, it was off to the footy! Across the road from the Sri Chinmoy Peace Mile and the Adelaide Cathedral is the Adelaide Oval.
We felt very honoured to be featured as part of the pre-game program at tonight's AFL game between Port Adelaide and Richmond.
Former Port player, Alipate Carlile, joined us on the hallowed turf of the Adelaide Oval for an interview in which we talked about the message of the Peace Run and the relevance to Port Adelaide Football Club's Intercultural program.
Everything was beamed onto the big screen. It was very exciting and thrilling to be talking about the Peace Run in front of thousands of people.
Jack Riewoldt from Richmond Football took the opportunity to hold the torch during his warm up. In the eyes of all the school children we meet during the run, there is no better endorsement than the involvement of the AFL players they idolise.
We are almost at our goal. Accompanying and guiding us the whole way has been our beloved Peace Flame, burning bright in the hearts of all we meet.
