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.
By 1980, Sri Chinmoy felt that his students needed more inspiration to train and race seriously, especially in the cold winter months of the Northeast when one can easily lose fitness with the excuse that it is too cold out to train or race. That lethargic notion was soon to be shattered when Sri Chinmoy sprang a marathon on his students in January 1980 in the subfreezing weather of Vermont....
Arpan De Angelo, a 200-marathon veteran and a participant in that race, describes the experience of participating in the first winter Sri Chinmoy Inspiration Marathon, an event that was held in Vermont or New Hampshire for many years in the eighties, often in icy temperatures, at a time when winter marathons were practically unheard of.
