The Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race is the world's longest certified

footrace Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

. In 1996

Sri Chinmoy Chinmoy Kumar Ghose (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), better known as Sri Chinmoy, was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the West after moving to New York City in 1964.multi-day race Multiday races are ultramarathon running events which are typically either segmented into daily events of a specified distance or time, or staged so that runners can run as far as they want, at their own discretion, over a set course or over a set ...

, which lasts several weeks, is hosted by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and takes place in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

in the United States from June–August every year. The course is 3,100 miles (4,989 km) long. Runners negotiate 5,649 laps of one extended city block in

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springfi ...

- 164th Place to Abigail Adams (84th) Avenue to 168th Street to Grand Central Parkway —a distance of 0.5488 miles (883 m), while the streets are in normal use. The runners have 52 days in which to complete the distance, running from 6 a.m. to midnight, an average of 59.62 miles (95.95 km) every day. The prize is typically a T-shirt, a DVD, or a small trophy. Detailed article on the race, with interviews with runners.

History

The Self-Transcendence 3100 mile was founded by

Sri Chinmoy Chinmoy Kumar Ghose (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), better known as Sri Chinmoy, was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the West after moving to New York City in 1964.ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

and multiday races has grown from the Ultra Trio, three races with staggered starts of 700, 1000 and 1300-mile duration that take place in September, and the spring races, which include the Self-Transcendence 6-Day race and the only annual race of its kind, the Self-Transcendence 10-Day race. In 1996 Sri Chinmoy created this event as a 2,700-mile (4,345 km) race. At the award ceremony that year he declared that the 1997 edition would be extended to 3,100 miles (4,989 km). The race has been run at this distance every year since. In 2020, it was held in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, Austria due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

from September 13 to November 3. In 2021, the

continues, causing the typical start date for the race, mid-June instead he was first started on Sunday, September 5, 2021. The list of runners for 2022 has been established. The race for 2022 started on Sunday, September 4.

Race

The race distance is the distance from the west to the east coast of the US, plus 11 marathons. After the race director (Sahishnu Szczesiul): In the early years there were drug dealers in the area and lawlessness—people did not want to leave their cars, which would have been stripped—but this was later much improved. For their safety, only runners with proven ultra-running experience may compete. The race is run daily, changing direction each day, whatever the weather, which has ranged from heat to torrential downpour—runners sometimes carry umbrellas. Competitors run among people going about their everyday lives, dodging pedestrians and cyclists, and occasionally large crowds for various events or celebrations. Sri Chinmoy said that the Self-Transcendence challenges runners to "transcend their own previous capacity", "gain spiritual insights" and "overcome the entire world's pre-conceived notions of possibility". Runners have spoken of "the most overwhelming moment", "When you run a marathon, you feel good ... when you run 3,100 miles, you feel even better still". Vegetarian meals are provided by volunteers from an improvised kitchen; runners need to eat constantly, burning 10,000 kcal a day. Runners have six hours a day for eating, washing, foot care and sleep. The race can be followed on the race website; regular updates for the participants are published there, and a webcam has been operating during recent years. An album of photo images is also published, several days a week, to record race activity.

Records and winners

Records

The world record is held by Ashprihanal Aalto who finished with a time of 40 days 09:06:21 in July 2015, breaking the previous record of 41 days 08:16:29 held by Madhupran

Wolfgang Schwerk Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk is an ultra-marathon runner, born 28 July 1955 http://www.vfum.de/index.php?id=875 and now living in Solingen, Germany. He was a trained retail-salesman, baritone opera singer, farmer, carpenter, and poultry breeder bef ...

. The ladies' record is held by

Kaneenika Janakova Kaneenika Janakova (born as Tereza Janáková, 1970) is an ultra-distance runner and comes from Cerová near Senica, Slovakia. She has lived in New York for ten years. Janakova is a disciple of Sri Chinmoy. Because of him, she adopted the name Kan ...

who completed 3100 miles in 48 days 14:24:10 in 2017. She broke the 49 days 07:52:24 record set by Surasa Mairer in 2015. Suprabha Beckjord is the only person to have completed every edition of the race (until 2009). Ashprihanal Aalto has won the race nine times and participated 15 times.

List of winners

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://3100.srichinmoyraces.org/
Video: Report
WSJ
Video: Report
AFP (Eng.)

Runner

grahakcunningham.comyolandaholder.comwilliamsichel.co.ukUltrabeh.sk
Annual events in New York City Multiday races Ultramarathons in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1986 1986 establishments in New York City Road running competitions in the United States Sports competitions in New York City Sports events founded by Sri Chinmoy Annual sporting events in the United States June sporting events Sports in Queens, New York