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.
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, New York, October 13th, 2012, 10am
Opening remarks by Rupantar LaRusso, Race Director of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team (Photo: Utsahi):
"I want to offer a warm welcome to all of you to our fourth annual Sri Chinmoy Heart-Garden 2-Mile Race and specially to our New York City Councilman Jimmy Gennaro, our many Olympians and very dear friends and runners from around the world.
"Sri Chinmoy is renowned and widely loved peace visionary who always had a tremendous love for sports as a means of challenging ourselves to do better and run faster and further than ever before. He loved and lived the Olympic motto is every aspect of his life: faster, higher, stronger.
"Exactly one year to the day before his passing, Sri Chinmoy was here with our dear brother and friend new York City Councilman Jimmy Gennaro to dedicate this beautiful Sri Chinmoy Heart-Garden and Sri Chinmoy Street, the very first in the world of now more than 150 Sri Chinmoy Streets in 23 nations."
Special Guests Attending:
Jimmy Gennaro, New York City Council Member
Cathy Oerter, Chair of Art of the Olympians
PÃ¥l Moen, Director of the Port of Oslo for many years and his wife Metta
Michael Voudouris, Olympian in the Skelton Races
Rose Voisk, Olympian in Gymnastics
Nikos Spanakos, Olympian in Boxing and his wife Barbara
Hazel Greene, Olympian in Archery
Pinky Keehner, Associate Director of the Randall’s Island Park Alliance
Jim Hurt, Basketball and Track and Field Coach, St. John’s University
Quotes from the Ceremony following the 2-Mile Race
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Jimmy Gennaro, New York City Councilman: Presents a City Council Proclamation and reads it: "Sri Chinmoy’s innate understanding of the unlimited potential that lies within each of us led him to conceive of these endurance events that to others seemed beyond the bounds of human possibility.†(photo: Utsahi)
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Cathy Oerter: Chair of the Art of the Olympians and Wife of Four-Time Olympic Discus Champion Al Oerter "Sri Chinmoy was an inspiration. Just being around him you could feel and sense his peace. His smile radiated this harmony and love worldwide. My dear husband Al passed away right before Sri Chinmoy did. They must be doing some wonderful things up there together, because there are so many good things yet to happen that they are going to orchestrate for all of us.†(photo: Utsahi) |
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Pål Moen, Director of Port of Oslo for many years (which receives 12 million visitors a year). The Port of Oslo is the site of the 'Eternal Peace Flame' and a statue of Sri Chinmoy "Sri Chinmoy was not a big man physically, but he is a giant of a man. That was the impression that I got immediately when I met him in 2003, and that impression is still very alive.†(photo: Utsahi)
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Rose Voisk, Olympian in Gymnastics in the London 1948 Olympics from Yugoslavia "I feel honoured and privileged to be in your company again. I feel the Sri Chinmoy events in general are so fantastic and inspiring. We are getting closer and closer to having harmony and peace throughout the whole world, and you have contributed to this immensely.†(photo: Utsahi)
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Nikos Spanakos, Olympian in Boxing in the Rome 1960 Olympics from Greece “We are privileged in the history of mankind to have prophets come on the scene. We have had Buddha, the Christ and now we have Sri Chinmoy. So we have been very privileged to meet this man and to see that his students are still following in his footsteps.†(photo: Utsahi)
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Michael Voudouris, Olympian in the Skeleton Races in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics for Greece "I remember seeing Sri Chinmoy at a 24-hour run around Shea Stadium that the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team sponsored. I was a sports photographer at the time and the peace and the joy that he carried has stayed with me.†(photo: Utsahi)
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More photos by Utsahi
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| The City Council Proclamation presented by Councilman Jimmy Gennaro | Salil Wilson, Executive Director of the World Harmony Run |
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| The Heart-Garden Ceremony |
The children line up for their race |
And the 2-mile race...Over 125 runners from around the world participated in the 2-mile race held in honor of Sri Chinmoy. All photos by Husiar.
Following the Heart-Garden Event, there was a World Harmony Run Ceremony at the near-by Al Oerter Recreation Center in Flushing Meadow Corona Park. Photo by Husiar.
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| Cathy Oerter holding the World Harmony Relay Torch in front of the Al Oerter Recreation Center (Photo: Husiar) |
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