Well, I've had three days of transition and re-entry into 'normal life' and time to reflect on the amazing odyssey that was Project Yellow. The final day was a wonderful experience, with RAQ CEO, Shane Klintworth coming out and running a final 45km marathon with Alida and me (it actually turned out to be about 47km! - sorry Shane!!).
Heaps of enthusiastic Roma locals ventured out to Roma State College on Saturday morning to watch us run in and to join us in the final two kilometres, taking part in all the fun events laid on too. Congratulations to the two girls who put so much effort into their yellow outfits and came away with an ipod Touch, as winners of the 'best-dresssed' comp'. The artwork comp' revealed some amazing talent too, which was equally rewarded. Thanks, Roma, for coming out and helping us celebrate. And a big thank you to Narissa Jowett for all the terrific support.
The team from Relationships Australia were amazing, giving Alida and I just the boost we needed to bring home the last kilometres in style. Big thanks to Ayesha, Veronica, Peter, Dan, Tracey, Graham, Sophiaan and Hamish. and a particular thank you to Olivia for all the amazing work that made the day happen.
There can't be too many CEO's that would travel across the state during a busy period, to run a marathon in support of a project and I'm inspired and enormously grateful to Shane for his commitment.
Our media and marketing person, Rebecca, was the one who made sure that the communities between Ipswich and Roma knew about what we were doing. We had some great coverage and couldn't have done what we did without Bec's amazing commitment to this project.
Of course, the reason you are able to read all my blog entries and follow our progress is thanks to the terrific website, built by Tsvetana. Thanks Tsvetana, for your creativity, commitment and...patience!
Our sponsors, Endura, Eatsmart, BSEMS and Runningman have been an integral part of the project's success. Their expert knowledge and guidance helped keep me on the road. They all do amazing work and their details are on the website, for more information.
Finally, thank you to all the enthusiastic students and educators who saw the value in what we were doing and made the effort to contribute and participate with such positive energy.
After a short rest it will be time to begin reflecting on this first Project Yellow adventure and reading all the evaluations gathered, in order to begin exploring how we might take Project Yellow forward from here. Already there are several requests in from new schools and I look forward to exploring how we can support them to move towards being more socially inclusive and diverse school communities.
So, for now, it's time to sign off. Don't forget to check out all the new pics as I upload them over the next few days and there will be a video montage of the final day very soon too. As always, we welcome your comments and stories and look forward to connecting again soon.
Much love and optimism, Chris