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.
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A woman won overall in the 700 mile race out of a field of 20 men and women. Suprabha Schecter, a petite blond boutique owner from Washington, DC, finished the 700 miles in 12 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes. She established an American women's record for this distance, which is the longest any American woman has run in a certified race. The 1,300 mile division was added to this race last year. Its stringent cut off of 18 days requires over a 72 miles a day pace and is meant for the most elite level of multiday runner. For the second year, no one reached the goal. Top finisher was German adventurer Stefan Schlett with 1,172 miles. On the way he established German national records for all distances from 6 days up. Canadian journeyman runner Trishul Cherns finished second, with 1,051 miles. Diplomats from Greece and New Zealand visited the race site, presenting Kouros and Ms. Barwick with trophies and greetings from their countries' government officials. When the race ended, Kouros and Barwick, along with the other runners traversed the one mile course one last time as honored riders in a large decorated float, while a band played songs written especially for the race and various runners. |
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(Malcolm Campbell (founder and president of the IAU). "The IAU 1000 Mile World Championships". The IAU Newsletter, June 1988. Reprinted with permission from the author.)
Kouros led from the start. He had indicated that he might start the race at a modest pace and attributed his first day total of 144 miles to the fact that he could not sleep. Five other runners and race walker, John Dowling, managed over 100 miles on that first day, and the lead of this group was French 1000 mile Record Holder, Emile Laharraque with 108 miles. Emile was to run well for about eight days but a re-occurrence of malaria was to give him real problems and prevent his reaching the 12 day cut off point of 700 miles.
Meanwhile, amongst the mere mortals there was a competitor running one of the greatest performances of his career. Michel Careau has done much to encourage the spread of ultra running in his country. He is a 47 year old Canadian who revels in the challenge of “distance”. He is determined, experienced and extremely courageous. He knew what was necessary: a good basic start followed by days of even paced running. He ran 107 miles on the first day followed by 75 on the second, to set a new Canadian Masters Record for 48 hours. Thereafter, he was to average about seventy miles a day to the finish.
Tom McGrath had a lot of problems – Two Hundred Thousand of them to be precise! This was the amount in dollars be hoped to raise for UNICEF by completing the race. There are a number of problems involved with running 1000 miles and this additional burden was a heavy weight to carry. Tom has the record for running across America and has broad shoulders. There was never any doubt in his mind about finishing. The time limit for the race was 15 days, but when it became evident that Tom would need a little longer, the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team recorded his laps until the distance was completed.
This race included three experienced 1,000 milers who one would have expected to see in the World Championship 1,000 mile race, but the challenge of that extra distance is hard to resist. Nikunja Ebner from Switzerland had a number of injury problems in the race, but was able to persevere past the 1,000kms mark to set a new National mark, and has indicated his intention to tackle the event again next year. The youngest competitor in any of the races was Jesse Dale Riley from Key West, Florida, who is twenty four years old. Jesse, who is a walker, completed 354 miles in six days, and during this time, was able to gain considerable advice from John Dowling who was walking in the 1,000 miler. John remarked after the race that Jesse has a great future in race walking, and I am sure that he is right. At the same time I think that he may well consider walking and running in an ultra event; he certainly has the right temperament for events of protracted duration.
"YIANNIS KOUROS, 32, Tripolis, Greece first appeared on the international ultra distance scene in 1984 when he won the inaugural Spartathlon in Greece. So great was his lead over the second place finisher (almost 3 hours) that many doubted his covering the full 156 miles. However, only weeks later he confirmed his authenticity as a great ultra distance athlete when he won the Austrian Danube 3 Day Stage Race, with a total aggregate time of 23:16:15 (an average of seven minutes for each mile of the 200 mile distance).
Fred Lebow took an interests in the Six Day Race and became determined that the first man to best Littlewood's record would do so in New York. The New York Road Runners club organized two Six Day Races and the first of these was held in 1983. The race winner, Siegfried Bauer, completed 511 miles which was a better performance than the mileage indicates. The temperature during the entire race was particularly hot.
Meanwhile, a new event had emerged on the multi day calendar. The 1,000 mile race! In the 1970s there had been a two-man challenge between John Ball of South Africa and Siegfried Bauer from New Zealand. Bauer won this race which took place in South Africa and he was to win over the same distance in Colac (Australia) in 1983 with a time of 12 days, 12 hours, 36 minutes. This race started in Melbourne and the competitors ran to Colac, a distance of about 92 miles, where they continued around an accurately marked circuit in the Memorial Square of the Town. In 1985, the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in New York organized a 1,000 mile road race in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York. That great pioneer of multi day racing, Don Choi, was still around and it seemed most appropriate that he should win this inaugural event. His winning time was 15 days, 6 hours, 24 minutes. In the same year, a 1,000 mile track race at Gateshead in England was won by Malcolm Campbell with a time of 15 days, 21 hours, 7 minutes. This had been the first 1,000 mile track race for nearly a century and, unlike the old 6 day records, the old 1,000 mile track times were quite modest. The Australian runner, Tony Rafferty, won a 1,000 mile road race in England in 1986 with a time of 14 days, 16 hours, 45 minutes. An outstanding 1,000 mile run was produced by the American, Stu Mittleman, at Flushing Meadow (a Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team race) in 1986 when he finished 25 hours in front of the second place runner with a time of 11 days, 20 hours, 37 minutes. Mittleman’s record for 1,000 miles seemed secure against all known competitors over the distance, and posed certain questions for outstanding performers over lesser distances.
