Post Race Report: Sri Chinmoy 7 and 13 Hour Races

About the author:

Rupantar has been the race director of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team since 1985, having been asked by Sri Chinmoy to serve in that capacity. As well as working on the big races the US Marathon Team organise each year - the 3100 Mile Race and the Six and 10 Day Race - he also spends a considerable amount of time archiving the Marathon Team's 40 year history on this website.

The inaugural Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 13 Hour Race started at 6:02am with first light, rain and wind of the day. Undeterred, the runners set off into the weather and the long trail ahead of them while lap counters wrapped themselves in blankets and fired up the camp stove for hot drinks & set up refreshments tables.

Steve Walters set out with an impressive pace that remained solid the entire 13 hours and set a high mark (73.92 mi.) for future runners to aspire towards. Steven Lazen at second ran 61.6 miles. Del Scharffenberg had signed up for the 13 hour race last year but due to low entries (2) that race did not happen. Thanks for hanging in there, Del! He completed this 13 Hour Race with 53.9 miles. Deborah Erdemon 1st woman was 4th overall with 52.36 miles. Michael Breeze, a truly seasoned ultra marathoner from Canada, turned 80 years young the day before, then ran 46.2 miles! We will add an 80+ category next year, Michael! His friend David Westdorp, also from Canada, ran his first ultra, studied, steady and smiling for 50.82 miles.

Starting at 12:02pm, the 5th running of the 7Hour Race welcomed back 4 time competitors and brother and sister duo Jill and Keith Hudson. Jill had to finish up the race early to watch over her school’s prom as principal. Keith stayed to the end and won a pie! Alan Smith stayed well ahead in his race, finishing with a best in his 3rd 7 Hour Race at 41.58 miles. Gabrielle Orsi, another solid and steady athlete won the woman’s race for the 2nd time with 38.5 miles. You can see Gabe Loh (35.42 mi.) in mid-leap in the slide show of the event! How did he do that?! Our photographer Yatkara from Vancouver Canada captured many smiling moments.

The rain let up, a little sun broke through and crew and runners huddled our tired selves into the shelter of the tents for a hot meal prepared by our friends at Silence-Heart-Nest Restaurant (Fremont), awards, prize pies (from A la Mode) and awesome cake (TM Dessert Works). Great job everyone! Our smilers were as well worked as our legs. Some of you reached your mileage goal and were satisfied with that. Your efforts to transcend your previous capacities were truly humbling to us. You each found the best in yourselves in order to persevere and finish, encourage and cheer others’ efforts along the way.

After the race, we hope your long travels home were safe. (Steve, Del, Cyndie from Oregon; Peter from Vancouver, WA; Michael & David from Canada; Bobbie, Dena from Olympia, Janice from Selah; James from Aberdeen; Mitch of Federal Way, Deborah of Sammamish; Suzanne, Georgeta of Bothell; Gabrielle, Lori of Issaquah; Gabe of Bellevue; Keith of Lake Forest Park; Steven, Alan, Jill, Sunny, Samarpita of Seattle.

We are already eagerly anticipating next year’s races. We would appreciate your feedback on how to improve. For example, the timing of the 2 events: Ideally we feel that if both races finish together it brings an increase in enthusiasm & celebration to all the runners & helpers. Perhaps if we started the races 1 hour earlier (5am for the 13 & 11am for the 7) then we could finish together 6pm. Any thoughts?

Big thank you to our Sri Chnimoy Marathon Team volunteers…and to Sri Chinmoy, our founder and guide, for his boundless enthusiasm for the sport of running.

“Life’s perfection-road
Is very long.
But the journey
Is richly rewarding.”

~ Sri Chinmoy

For Your Information & Inspiration:

Sport & Meditation, a book by Sri Chinmoy. Title of this book says it all!

Other events we sponsor:

Monthly first Saturday 2 mile race (easy!), http://us.srichinmoyraces.org/seattle-2-mile-race
Our classic triathlon, duathlon, at 38 years! http://www.victoriatriathlon.com/
And… coming into the NW soon in June, our worldwide running torch relay will be run into Seattle June 20 https://www.peacerun.org/us/

Daulot & Stota Fountain
Directors, Sri Chinmoy 7 &13 Hour Races

More about:

Sri Chinmoy 7 & 13 Hour Ultra Solo & Team Relay Races

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Race stories - more articles

About the author:

The attached PDF presents a history of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team’s connection to Goose Pond Park (Captain Tilly Park) in Jamaica, NY. With its proximity to Aspiration-Ground, the meditation garden where Sri Chinmoy spent countless hours playing tennis, composing songs and offering prayers and meditations, the Park became a focal point for many inspiring activities.

Guru and Goose Pond Park (A Disciple History)

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About the author:

We had about 400 runners at this year’s Self-Transcendence Rockland Lake Marathon. After the race, dozens of runners posted their experiences in various places online. Many of the comments gave a sense that the runners were drawn to this particular race for inner reasons, sometimes without quite knowing why. One wrote that while our marathon isn’t the wildest or loudest, we have something serene that’s beyond words—and this atmosphere is really conducive to transcendence.

As well as founding our Marathon Team and being an avid sprinter and long distance runner, Sri Chinmoy was also well known for his feats of weightlifting, which included honouring people for their service to humanity by lifting them overhead using a specially constructed apparatus. Between 1988 and 2007, he honoured over 8,000 people in this manner - people like Muhammad Ali and Nelson Mandela, but also . He once said that everyone who came to be lifted had an inner expectation of having a spiritual experience - and then Sri Chinmoy added that he never disappointed them. We get the feeling that people who come to our races also receive a similar kind of fulfilment.

We should note that dozens of runners commented how grateful they were to our medical team. Nowhere else, they mentioned, could a non-elite runner get such a high-quality post-race massage! Not only did our amazing crew soothe their muscles, but in many cases, runners received performance and nutrition advice!

We actually recognized a number of the runners not just from their participation in past Sri Chinmoy Marathons in Rockland Lake State Park, but because they also had visited the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race held in Queens this summer. There was even one runner who had entered a number of our monthly Rainbow Marathons that we held in the 1980s! As a side note, a number of the outside runners had also seen the recent documentary 3100: Run And Become, which chronicles the 3100 Mile Race and the spiritual significance of ultrarunning around the world. A few people gasped with joy when they saw Shamita Achenbach-König – one of the stars of the movie – on the course running the marathon! A number of folks took pictures of her for their collections and a few got to say hello to her as she passed them.