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.Spirit of a Runner by Jogyata Dallas (originally printed in IndiaNZ Outlook, Viewpoint, 7th May, 2017)
Man has always been a runner, a biped-miracle capable of running hundreds of kilometers in a single day and seemingly inexhaustible and limitless in potential. The Greek legend Yiannis Kouros ran 303 kilometers in 24 hours and 473 kms in 48 hours and was capable of running 200 kms daily for 6 straight days. Auckland’s own Sandra Barwick still holds multi-day records - including running 883.6 km on a track in six days; 1000 km on the road in seven days, and 1000 miles in twelve and a half days. Less known as a running nation, India last year attempted to change the perception about running in that country by organizing the 'Great India Run’, the first multi-city ultra-marathon, with 12 elite marathoners traversing through six states and covering a distance of 1480 kms from Delhi to Mumbai in 18 days.
Photo: Ultra legends Sandy Barwick (right) and Yiannis Kouros (center) compete in the 1988 Sri Chinmoy 1000 Mile IAU
For thousands of years, cultures all over the world have used running as part of their cultural and spiritual expression. A new documentary by the Indian director Sanjay Rawal is set to explore these themes, with its film crew spending time with the Navajo Nation in Arizona, the famed running monks of Japan and the Kalahari bushmen in Botswana, as well as spending many days filming at last year's 3100 Mile Race in New York City. Editing of the film has already started and in the last month, a Kickstarter project has already raised over $50,000 of its $75,000 goal, to enable the film makers to complete the film by August. (visit: https://vimeo.com/215512505?ref=em-v-share)
Photo: Ashprihanal Aalto of Finland completes the 2015 Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile race in a record-breaking time of 40 days 9 hours 6 minutes and 21 seconds.
Documentary director Rawal comments: “We wanted to learn about the deepest spiritual traditions of exceptional indigenous runners from around the world. We wondered if we could, first of all, find runners that actually embodied the ancient esoteric approach to running and then earn their trust. And so we hunted on the run with the bushmen of Botswana and filmed their ancestral way of hunting. We ran with champion Navajo runners versed by their elders in the spiritual traditions of running. And we embedded with the Japanese Marathon Monks to document their epic 1,000 day running journey where at one time the stakes were literally life or death. Once a generation they pick an athlete to run for 1000 days over 7 years, in 100 day chunks - up to 56 miles per day over mountain trails!
Photo: Sri Chinmoy, seated, at the start of the 2004 Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race“
Then we came across the most elusive, elite multi-day race in the world, the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, which takes place in Queens, New York City each summer and demands at least 59 miles a day for 52 straight days. While the participants of that race are for the most part Western, the event was founded by the Indian spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy. In a sense, the race requires runners to tap into an ancient energy found in the most remote cultures of the world. We build the arc of the entire film around this race and bounce between remote, expedition-worthy locations to draw parallels between the approaches to running. We’re eagerly looking forward to this new documentary - ‘3100: Run and Become’ - which promises to be the definitive exploration of why ultra-runners do what they do”.
Photo: Documentary director Sanjay Rawal (white t-shirt) with the bushmen of Botswana
Among other extraordinary running adventures: The Big Five marathon, Limpopo province, South Africa - seemingly a traditional overland marathon if not for the regular, freely roaming presence of the “big five” of African game: elephants, rhinos, leopards, buffalo and lions!
Then there’s the ‘Man versus Horse’ marathon in Wales, inspired by a claim that runners could keep pace with horses. Horses proved the victors in every race until 2004, when a man named Huw Lobb won and took home a purse of £25,000, which had grown unclaimed every year since the race’s inception.
And let’s not forget the ‘Man carrying Wife’ 250-meter dash, originating in Finland and featuring three separate obstacles, one of which involves wading through a water course at least a meter deep with your spouse over your shoulders. The prize for winning? - the woman’s weight in beer! In the world championships, she sits on one end of a seesaw until the amount of beer evens it out. And on Saturday, May 7 in 2017, Nike sponsored an attempt by three elite marathoners - nurtured over a year of planning - to break the seemingly unassailable two-hour barrier for the marathon.
This month, Kiwis Susan Marshall (Photo above, finishing) and Kim Allan came first and second in another challenging race, the just concluded Sri Chinmoy-inspired six day race in New York, a one mile loop around a flat, scenic trail in a pleasant park setting. Local Auckland runner 59-year-old Durba Lee also competed, defying the usual constraints of age to cover over 391 kms. These races by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team feature an international field of runners who come to test their endurance, skill with pacing, and ability to recover from the stress of constantly moving. The competitors run with minimal sleep, all the while trying to accumulate as many miles as possible.
Photo: Kim Allan 2017 6-Day 2nd place women
But why this love of distance, pain and great effort? For many, running is part of a spiritual quest, a journey of self-discovery. Russian athlete Jayasalini, the first female R-Mile Race, comments: “This race is all about how things that seem impossible actually can be very possible...for me the answer is to have that deep inner connection with my soul, with my inner being, at every moment of my life, as strong as I had during the race. There, the conditions are so extreme, that every moment is a sincere prayer, every moment is a sincere cry, and every moment I felt my soul expressing itself in and through me. Now I feel the real objective, the real goal for me is to be able to feel this during every moment of my whole life." Her online interview is interesting: https://us.srichinmoyraces.org/featured#node-9858
Photo: Jayasalini Abramovskikh
Sri Chinmoy, the late spiritual master, athlete and founder of the international Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, encouraged fitness and sport as a wonderful lifestyle positive in an increasingly sedentary world, a path to self-knowledge, a helpful spiritual discipline and a window into our limitless potential. He writes: “When you come to a particular standard, you have to say, ‘Is there anything more I can do?’. Then do it. The determination in your heroic effort will permeate your mind and heart even after your success or failure is long forgotten.”
Photo: Sri Chinmoy
Further inspiration: www.srichinmoyraces.org
Home page for 6 and 10 Day Races
The 48-hour mark showed the trend of good runners rising to the top of the standings. Budjargal Byambaa was now in control of the race with 189 miles at the 2-day break. He was still running at 4.5 to five miles per hour, with little sign of fatigue. His lead had swelled to nearly 30 miles. By Day 3, Jesper Olsen had pulled even with Igor Mudryk with a 70-mile day, and had actually gained back over 10 miles to the lead of Mr. Byambaa. But Day 4 saw a resurgence for Budjargal, as he rattled off 73 miles and continued to run quickly and efficiently. Jesper could not sustain the speed that Budjargal possessed. Only Igor Mudryk could even consider keeping up with the Mongolian champion. 
In the Ten Day, Budjargal Byambaa was emerging as a star runner. He eclipsed his personal best (601 miles) before the end of Day 8 with 605 miles, and fashioned an insurmountable lead over second place of 40 miles. To his credit, Igor Mudryk pulled back a few miles in the last two days, but Budjargal had become the star of the race, overcoming any obstacle, and still staying above 67 miles the last seven days of the event. Budjargal also announced his ascendency in world rankings, becoming the first Mongolian to pass 1000km (8:09:41:10); first Mongolian to 700 miles (9:07:45:18), and first Mongolian winner of the Sri Chinmoy Ten Day Race - 739 miles (1189.305 km). His 138-mile improvement for 10 days is highly noteworthy, and places him fifth-ranked for best totals in the Ten Day history. If pushed he could have easily done more. At 35 years of age, he has a lot of talent and heart to reveal. (Photo: Budjargal right)
The New York Daily News covers the Sri Chinmoy 6 and 10 Day Races and lists the top three finishers, both maile and female, for the two races.
Utpal Marshall has been covering the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team for many years, more then I can recollect. His easly and charming way of asking questions often bring out surprising and amusing answers from the runners and helpers. Using the medium of both video and photography, he captures the spirit of the race at all hours of the day, rain or shine. And during this year's race, mostly rain. Just a few of his photos... Be sure to view his videos on this web page and of course at his own web site, 
The runners try many ways to keep the mind from interfering with their running. One way to do that, according to Karteek and Patanga, is playing chess. They have set up a chess board near their stall in the dugout and after each mile loop they take a turn in moving their chess pieces. However, after a couple of days, Karteek noticed that someone was moving his chess pieces. To his delight, he discovered that Arun, an avid player himself and fellow 10-day runner, had been moving his pieces. When Arun first noticed the chess board and started playing, he said that all his pain immediately disappeared: such is the power of chess. To accommodate the new player, Patanga and Karteek set up a second chess board. Your move!
During the race I often get a chance to chat with the runners as they pause for a brief stop in the camp. This monday morning first time runner Ashivad shared an experience, that occurred during the race, with multiday veteran Pranjal and myself, head race director Rupantar. One of the many obstances that the runners must cope with is sleep deprevation. The runner is confronted with the choice of 'am I still productive running', 'am I going too slow and therefore should I take a rest break and resume after the break'. As Ashivard told us, with eyes heavy from lack of sleep, he approached an object and was started to see a gnome. However, as he came nearer to the object, "it changed into a traffic cone". Reality or dream? Pranjal recounted a similar incident. During one of his past multiday races, from the distance he was startled to see an elfin figure. However as he approach the creature, it miraculously turned into a fire hydrant. Welcome to the "Twilight Zone", better know as multi day running.
NYCRUNS is a popular website that lists races in the New York area. We were pleasantly surprised to see the 6 & 10 Day Races listed. Although this race draws most of its runners from outside the U.S., multiday running has a rich history in the New York area. See 
The following article appeared in the online website Ultra168 and is about Australian ultra runner Martin Fryer's experience in the 2013 Self-Transcendence 6 and 10 Day Races held in Flushing, New York. 
