About the author:

Medur is our go-to person for many of the essential tasks involved in putting on our races: race setup, our lap counting system and our website. An enthusiastic runner himself, he has participated in many editions of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run in Canada and the US.

Andy Irons clinches the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing Jewel

Three-time world champion Andy Irons (Kauai) today clinched the one jewel of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing...

O'Neill World Cup of Surfing

ASP 6 Star WQS Mens Event
Sunset Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
26 November - 7 December 2004

Scores/Results/Photos etc.

Day 8: Andy Irons clinches elusive jewel at O'Neill World Cup of Surfing.
Patacchia and Reyes Qualify for 2005 World Championship Tour.

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 03 December 2004: - - Three-time world champion Andy Irons (Kauai) today clinched the one jewel of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing that has eluded him for five years, rounding out a sensational season by winning the 30th annual O'Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach. Joining an illustrious list of legendary past winners that was in the making before he was born, 26-year-old Irons is now back on track for a third consecutive Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Series title.

The 35-minute final featured a four-man lineup of past, present and future surfing champions with Irons pitted against 22-year-old North Shore local Fred Patacchia Jr., 23-year-old Joel Parkinson (Australia), and pro surfing's veteran Mark Occhilupo (Australia), 38. But age had nothing to do with the quality of surfing on offer as all four surfers closely matched each others scores through three rounds of competition today en-route to the final.

Scores remained tight for the first half of the final, but Irons hit a strong rhythm at the half-way point to steal away with the lead. His score of 16.17 points out of 20 for his best two rides earned him $15,000. Second place was Occhilupo (13.8 points and $8,000), third was Patacchia (12.87 points for $6,000), and fourth was Joel Parkinson (10.5 points and $4,000).

Andy Irons : photo Carol Cunningham/Cunninghamphotos.com

"I've gotten second here before," said Irons. "I knew I'd have to play it smart against those guys."

After a shocking first round loss in the first event two weeks ago, the Vans Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa, Irons had written off the likelihood of regrouping his results to be able to challenge Series leader Sunny Garcia (Hawaii). But his win today takes him within 150 points of Garcia, who dropped to second on the Triple Crown ratings after losing in one round prior to the quarter finals this-morning. Australian Phillip MacDonald, runner-up at Haleiwa and semi-finalist today, has taken a 122 point lead on the Series. MacDonald sits on 1764 Triple Crown points, Garcia has 1632, and Irons 1488 points.

"This is such a prestigious spot," continued Irons. "To have a win here is very special. I'm really bummed now that I did bad at Haleiwa. I'm fiending for (the Triple Crown title). But I think Sunny's going to have to have the wheels fall off for me to beat him."

With a smaller than usual winter swell on offer today, just 4-6 foot faces, two distinctly different styles of surfing emerged between the regular foot surfers (those who ride facing the wave) and the goofy-footers (those who surf with their back to the wave). In the final, goofy-footers Occhilupo and Patacchia amassed large numbers of maneuvers with their tight, driving top-to-bottom turns, while regular-footers Irons and Parkinson honed into every possible tubing ride to counter the scores. Ironically, it was a rare left-breaking wave that offered Irons a high-scoring back-side tube ride that turned the tables in the heat - the best ride of the final at 8.67 points out of a possible 10. Association of Surfing Professionals (A.S.P.) Head Judge Perry Hatchett called the wave the highest scoring left ever ridden at Sunset during Triple Crown competition.

Marc Occhilupo : photo Carol Cunningham/Cunninghamphotos.com

"I think it looked like I was a little deeper than it really was," Irons said of the left. "But I'll take it and I'll run with it."

Second placed Occhilupo won over another generation of surfing spectators with a youthful, effervescent string of heats today. By far the heaviest surfer in the final and the oldest surfer in the event, Occhilupo didn't miss a beat and surfed with the same speed, flair and enthusiasm as his far younger rivals.

Third placed Patacchia received as huge a welcome as Irons upon his return to shore, securing a berth on the A.S.P.'s elite World Championship Tour (W.C.T.) for 2005 with his performance today. His promotion to the top ranks of pro surfing was four years in the making and came as a huge relief and motivation to the Haleiwa surfer.

"The dream first started in high school, but it's definitely been strong the last four years," said Patacchia. "The second I made the quarters, I felt a lot better. By the final, my thought was, You're job's done.

"I always love surfing events out here. Some guys would kill just to shake these guys hands and I got to muck around with them out there."

Winners podium : photo Carol Cunningham/Cunninghamphotos.com

As the final World Qualifying Series (W.Q.S.) event of the 2004 A.S.P. World Tour, the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing played a major hand in deciding the lineup for next year's W.C.T. tour. Along with Patacchia, Californian Tim Reyes, 22, (Huntington Beach) qualified for the W.C.T. tour today. While the performance of W.C.T. surfers at Pipeline will cast the final dice, W.Q.S. qualifiers currently include the top 20 W.Q.S. ranked surfers, with Brazil's Bernardo Pigmeu the last at this point, rated 20th (see WQS rankings www.worldtour.com)

Reyes, an O'Neill team rider, had his greatest day in pro surfing today, posting the highest heat score of the entire competition in the quarter finals, 18.07 points out of a possible 20, before losing in the semi-finals to Occhilupo and Irons. His 5th place finish overall was enough to earn him the 2004 Nose Guard Rookie of the Year award, that goes to the best newcomer to the Triple Crown.

The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing next moves to Pipeline for the third and final men's event, the Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters - the final W.C.T. event of the year. The holding period begins Wednesday, December 8, and runs through the 20th. The second and final event of the women's Triple Crown Series, the Billabong Pro Maui, runs through the same period as Pipeline.

FINAL:
1st=$15,000, 2nd=$8,000, 3rd=$6,000, 4th=$4,000
1st. Andy Irons (Hawaii) 16.17
2nd. Mark Occhilupo (Australia) 13.8
3rd. Fred Patacchia (Hawaii) 12.87
4th. Joel Parkinson (Australia) 10.5

Semi Finals:
1st & 2nd to final. 3rd=5th, 4th=7th
H1: Mark Occhilupo (Aus) 15.73; Andy Irons (Haw) 15.33; Tim Reyes (USA) 14.13; Nathan Carroll (Haw) 10.16
H2: Joel Parkinson (Aus) 17.53; Fred Patacchia (Haw) 14.16; Phillip MacDonald (Aus) 12.2; Cory Lopez (USA) 12.17

Quarter Finals:
1st & 2nd to Semi Finals. 3rd=9th, 4th=13th
H1: Tim Reyes (USA) 18.07; Nathan Carroll (Haw) 12.17; Michael Lowe (Aus) 11.07; Kalani Robb (Haw) 9.77
H2: Andy Irons (Haw) 14.17; Mark Occhilupo (Aus) 13.43; Daniel Jones (Aus) 10.0; Renan Rocha (Brz) 8.74
H3: Fred Patacchia (Haw) 16.1; Phillip MacDonald (Aus) 15.33; Neco Padaratz (Brz) 13.83; Kelly Slater (USA) 12.36
H4: Joel Parkinson (Aus) 13.07; Cory Lopez (USA) 12.83; Leonardo Neves (Brz) 9.67; Raoni Monteiro (Brz) 9.43

Round 5
1st & 2nd to Quarter Finals. 3rd-17th, 4th-25th
H1: Kalani Robb (Haw) 15.0; Tim Reyes (USA) 11.93; Marcus Hickman (Haw) 10.83; CJ Hobgood (USA) 7.2
H2: Nathan Carroll (Haw) 12.53; Michael Lowe (Aus) 11.34; Paulo Maura (Brz) 10.0; Sunny Garcia (Haw) 9.77
H3: Renan Rocha (Brz) 13.43; Mark Occhilupo (Aus) 11.5; Pablo Gutierrez (BRz) 8.23; Ben Bourgeois (USA) 6.73
H4: Daniel Jones (Haw) 13.77; Andy Irons (Haw) 13.56; Greg Emslie (SAfr) 11.67; Fabio Gouveia (Brz) 8.53
H5: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.84; Neco Padaratz (Brz) 13.23; Pancho Sullivan (Haw) 11.16; Chris Ward (USA) 10.07
H6: Fred Patacchia (Haw) 13.0; Phillip MacDonald (Aus) 11.5; Ian Walsh (Maui) 9.66; Masatoshi Ohno (Jpn) 3.6
H7: Cory Lopez (USA) 14.17; Leonardo Neves (Brz) 12.5; Daniel Ross (Aus) 12.27; Brian Pacheco (Haw) 12.0
H8: Raoni Monteiro (Brz) 13.17; Joel Parkinson (Aus) 12.5; Bruce Irons (Haw) 9.57; Kieren Perrow (Aus) 3.17

Joel Parkinson : photo Carol Cunningham/Cunninghamphotos.com
WQS rankings
After event #40 O'Neill World Cup,Sunset Beach,Oahu-Hawaii
1 Padaratz,Neco BRA 11785
2 MacDonald,Phillip AUS 10728
3 Stedman,Luke AUS 10322
4 Emslie,Greg ZAF 10206
5 Monteiro,Raoni BRA 9853
6 Reyes,Tim USA 9536
7 Ward,Chris USA 9518
8 Patacchia,Frederick HAW 9413
9 Lovett,Richard AUS 9396
10 Martin,Toby AUS 9213
11 Logie,Travis ZAF 9185
12 Brooks,Troy AUS 8990
13 Munro,Trent AUS 8908
14 Durbidge,Bede AUS 8820
15 Flintoff,Kirk AUS 8788
16 Moura,Paulo BRA 8781
17 Nunes,Marcelo BRA 8715
18 Rocha,Renan BRA 8493
19 Whitaker,Tom AUS 7931
20 Pigmeu,Bernardo BRA 7876
21 Daltro,Armando BRA 7840
22 O'Rafferty,Darren AUS 7806
23 Bourgeois,Ben USA 7790
23 Irons,Andy HAW 7790
25 Rebiere,Eric FRA 7778
26 Lopez,Cory USA 7719
27 Powers,Roy HAW 7600
28 Webster,Nathan AUS 7575
29 Davidson,Chris AUS 7566
30 Pires,Tiago PRT 7515
31 Buchan,Adrian AUS 7418
32 Costa,Danilo BRA 7243
33 Rosa,Peterson BRA 7225
34 Dornelles,Rodrigo BRA 7090
35 Howse,Jarrad AUS 6908
36 Gouveia,Fabio BRA 6848
37 Cansdell,Shaun AUS 6745
38 Ribas,Victor BRA 6685
39 Herdy,Guilherme BRA 6678
40 Acero,Eneko ESP 6630
41 Winter,Russell GBR 6485
42 Neves,Leonardo BRA 6445
43 Trekinho,Marcelo BRA 6340
44 Burrow,Taj AUS 6320
45 Souza,Adriano de BRA 6252
46 Weare,David ZAF 6165
47 Harrison,Zane AUS 6085
48 Hobgood,Damien USA 6073
49 Hall,Glenn AUS 6010
50 Otton,Kai AUS 5960

Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team articles - more articles

About the author:

Tejvan organises short-distance running and cycling races for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in his home city of Oxford. He is also a very good cyclist, having won the National hill climb championships in 2013 and finished 3rd in the National 100 Mile Time Trials in 2014.

I have a new fitness goal – training for the “Centenarian Decathlon” – i.e be fit when you are really old. The idea is that as we get older, our muscle and fitness declines rapidly. It means we can spend the last 10 years of our life, unable to move properly. The body fails before the heart and brain. The only way to be fit and mobile in the last decade of our life is to start training for it now.

The idea of a Centenarian Decathlon comes from Peter Attia – a doctor and fitness guru, who has spent a lot of time researching how to combat ageing and improve our healthy lifespan. He wrote a good book – “Outlive” which goes into different aspects of things that make a difference in improving life-expectancy and healthy life expectancy. An important conclusion from all his scientific research is that if you did one single thing to improve life and healthy life-expectancy – it is exercise. Exercise is the single most important thing that makes a difference. Try to eat healthy, get good sleep, minimise stress and cultivate happiness. But, if there is a magic bullet, it is exercise – aerobic, VO2 max and core strength.

The great thing about this book is that it really resonated with the philosophy of my spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy. Sri Chinmoy valued physical fitness as it enables us to a have more rounded, fulfilling life.

"Physical fitness is of paramount importance. We are not practising sports to be the world’s greatest runner or athlete. We are praying to God to keep our body physically fit so that early in the morning we can pray and meditate and begin our day’s journey with a prayerful heart. If we do not do sports and take exercise to keep the body fit, then we may become weak and sickly and suffer from all kinds of pains and ailments." Sri Chinmoy answers, part 2, Agni Press, 1995

I remember Sri Chinmoy once said that once you are over 50 you should try and if possible do 2-3 hours of exercise and stretching per day. In this regard, Sri Chinmoy definitely practised what he preached. He himself would take regular exercise and stretching to keep fit.

"Physical fitness is of paramount importance. Do whatever exercise you want to, as long as you do something. I take daily at least two hours' exercise, sometimes two and a half, sometimes three. Usually, I do it at three different times during the day. Even at night, before I go to bed, I have some special exercises that I take." - Sri Chinmoy, Inner Meaning of Sport

When Sri Chinmoy was young, in India he was an excellent sprinter and decathlon champion. When he came to the West, he took up distance running. Unfortunately, as many of us will relate to, he experienced bad knee pain, which forced him to stop running. But, he never used this as an excuse to stop exercising. He would walk or exercise with weights. In his mid-70s, Sri Chinmoy was still active in weightlifting. I remember watching Sri Chinmoy walk painfully to a lifting apparatus and then use the parts of his body which could take the strain. Injury was never an excuse. In fact, in one tv interview, Sri Chinmoy explained his philosophy was to try and inspire people of his generation.

The idea of 2-3 hours per day exercise seems such a long-time. But, now I’m getting closer to 50, I have a goal to do this. And the thing is that to do 2-3 hours of exercise a day, you don't have to spend 2-3 hours in a gym. Try stand on one leg with your eyes closed! It's not as easy as it sounds. When waiting in a queue, you can do single leg exercises and stretches. Passes the time in a constructive way. Also, to create a time, I took to speed walking to the supermarket. Carrying shopping on back, is all good training.

Age is in the mind

In addition to training for old age, it is also worth trying to bear in mind, the philosophy "Age is in the mind - not the body" Sri Chinmoy's approach was always to imagine ourselves as young, not old.

Age is in the mind; age is not in the body. When we think that we are old, that is the end, the very end, of our journey. Every day at every moment only think that you are a seven-year-old or a nine-year-old or ten-year-old, but do not think that you are over thirty." Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 35, Agni Press, 2004

Healthy Life-expectancy

Despite improvements in medicine we risk seeing a decline in healthy life expectancy through poor diet and exercise.

By the way, healthy life-expectancy is the age at which we are physically able to live an active life. The way modern medicine and health systems are set up – we focus a lot of effort on treating the symptoms of ill-health (and old age), but do very little on preventative medicine. But, we can definitely start now to improve our strength and fitness which is probably the best preventative medicine.

Vo2 Max

The good news for keen cyclists. VO2 max is one of the most reliable guides to life expectancy. The higher the VO2, there is a very strong correlation for higher life-expectancy. Even small amounts of high intensity training, can boost our VO2 max and our fitness. VO2 max steadily declines with age, but we can partly arrest the decline through training VO2 max specifically. In my own cycling, this year I haven’t done very much VO2 max efforts at all, just pottering around town. So this is a good reminder to make more of an effort in this regard.

Aerobic Base

As you might expect the more you improve your aerobic base, the more good things happen for our health. It improves our cardiovascular health, but also our general mood and feeling of well-being.

The Harvard professor in this video is very good. One of the most interesting things I learnt was when people are unfit, if they exercise they don’t get the same ‘buzz’ / ‘dopamine’ effect that trained athletes do. This is why unfit people don’t like exercise, it is just all suffering, little reward. But, when you get to a certain level of fitness, then increasingly the body is able to send a reward of ‘dopamine’ and exercise becomes much more enjoyable. This is why it can be so hard to get going with exercise; at the start, it is not much fun. But, if you can get a critical mass of fitness then everything becomes easier because exercise itself becomes more enjoyable. I’ve found that in my own exercise cycles. When you’re fit and firing on all cylinders, you can’t wait to get back on the bike and do more training. But, when you get out of the habit, the idea of doing hill intervals or whatever, appears less desirable.

Core strength

Another really important thing about training for old age is general all-round strength. As a cyclist, I have often been guilty of focusing only on cycling and not doing the more ‘boring’ core strength exercises. My body type is perfect for long-seated hill climbs. But, equally, it is unsuited for doing pull-ups and push ups. Yet, when you get really old, this kind of upper-body strength could be the difference between pulling yourself out of bed and being bedridden. I spend some time with a friend with Parkinson’s. When it kicks in, the legs stop working and to get out of bed, it requires pulling on bars to get up. It is touch and go, and this is a real motivation for training for old age. You realise every workout and muscle strength you developed – makes the difference of whether you can get out of bed, and being able to do basic tasks. There are also other exercises you can do in small confined spaces. I’m a big fan of eccentrics. Pretty much all using your body weight. The aim is to try and exercise all 600+ muscles in the body. The exercises seem easy, but the first time I did a 30 minute session, I couldn’t believe how stiff I was the next day! Muscles you don’t use in daily life.

Modern life

In the pandemic period, I got into the habit of online shopping. It’s amazing, you click on your computer and all your heavy shopping gets brought to your door. It saves so much effort. I used to take a rucksack when travelling, but now replace it with mini suitcases on wheels. Rather than take the stairs at the airport, we have lifts and travellators. Everything is geared towards comfort and ease of use. When we put a backpack on, it is a bit uncomfortable, so we seek ways to avoid lifting and carrying. Everything that used to keep the body in shape is being replaced by technology which does the heavy lifting for us. But, actually walking with a heavy backpack, is really good training for the body. It is why the army use this kind of training.

All this is good in the short-term, but it means the modern homeo sapiens is losing strength and the ability to function like we are supposed to. When things go wrong, it’s either too late or we just seek a solution to the problem of a weak body – not address the underlying cause. This is why we have to make so much conscious effort to keep the body active and avoid the comfort delusion. For example, when my 70-year-old mother brings in the shopping, I feel the right thing to do is go and help her carry the heavy shopping bags. But, actually, that weight training of lifting heavy shopping is the best thing she can do. She isn't always convinced at my logic!

On average I spend one hour a day cycling around Oxford, Kennington, mostly on the cycle path. It’s a really efficient way to both get around time, save money and keep fit. So that’s a start, but I need to work on improving upper body strength too.

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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.

A few personal impressions from this years 6 day race in New York’s Flushing Meadows Park, 18–24 April 2022, by Shashanka Karlen

A multi-day race is a good way to discover the flexibility and fluidity of time. In the beginning, when you have covered your first 6-10 hours and realize what you have gotten yourself into, the look forward to the end of 6 days can be really frightening. At least for the mind. It seems an infinity of time away and mentally you may wonder how you can actually ever reach that goal. There are moments during the race where time does not seem to move, where each lap is just simply very hard work and there seems to be no way out, no person to talk to, no special food that would uplift you, no piece of music that would carry you forward. Don Winkley, the American Ultra runner, still running at 83, calls these “the character-building miles”. I thought of him several times during the race also because he had so many great stories to tell when we met 10 years ago during the Self-Transcendence 10 day race.

On the other hand, when you look back after 3 or 4 days to the beginning of the race it seems that time practically flew by, that all went so quickly that you could hardly grasp it. And even now, the second day after the race time has already moved on and we try to quickly preserve all the treasures that have come along the way of these 6 days.

The bathtub by Don Winkley
Don Winkley told me this story back in 2012 and it remained anchored in my memory ever since. Don said that once he had a very difficult race, the weather was miserable and at some point he said to himself “After this is over I will get a nice suite at a hotel and enjoy myself.” Once the race was over he did exactly that, checked in at the hotel and got a very large beautiful suite. The problem was that Don was in such a bad physical shape and the bathroom was very far away from his bed. As he needed the bathroom frequently and the distance was too far he finally decided to sleep in the bathtub...Poor Don!

Ode to Joy

One evening, I believe it was on the 3rd day, around midnight I got the inspiration to listen to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. I thought, good, this will take care of the race for 1 ½ hours, the total length of the four movements. There is a special live recording from December 1989, recorded in Berlin just after the Berlin Wall came down and includes musicians and singers from both East and West. The conductor is the famous Leonard Bernstein. Feeling the pulse of time, he took the freedom to change the name from “Ode to Joy” to “Ode to Freedom”. It is indeed a very special recording of a very special symphony in a very special moment of human history. This symphony has become a global hymn to freedom and the brotherhood of man and is loved more than ever.

Interestingly enough the next morning Kodanda, the “race-musician” played the theme of Ode to Joy, without knowing anything about my experience the night before. I thought it was a nice proof how on an inner level feelings and thoughts travel freely and are picked up, it may be as close as a few meters like in this case or it may be on the other side of the globe.

“Somehow it must be possible for us to learn from his [Beethoven’s] music by hearing it, no, not hearing it but by listening to it with all our power of attention and concentration. Then perhaps we can grow into something worth being called “the human race”. ...In this time of world agony and hopelessness and helplessness, we love his music and we need it. As despairing as we may be, we can not listen to this 9th Symphony without emerging from it changed, enriched, encouraged.” - Leonard Bernstein 1979

I think also for many other Ultra runners listening to music is an important support. I don’t know what other runners listen to, except maybe from the story that Grahak told from the 3100 mile race. He was listening to heavy rock music and was suddenly called to Sri Chinmoy’s car to get Prasad (blessed food) and he somehow did not manage to turn off the music. Even though it was only in the earphones, the music was clearly audible and he felt embarrassed... Like in the case of the perception of time, a multi day race also makes you much more sensitive to music and different kinds of music and their effect on yourself. I listened a good amount of time to Sri Chinmoy’s music and I liked particularly his singing. I could make a very easy connection to him through his singing. It just goes directly to your heart and soul.

Sometimes I would listen to popular music. “Paradise” by Coldplay came up, “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits, “Comfortably Numb” and “Echos” by Pink Floyd (bringing back memories from long forgotten times). Later I discovered “Deja Vu” by Crosby, Still, Nash and Young and this worked very well with its rhythm and lightness. I was very careful not to cross a certain line, because I felt it would have a detrimental influence on my inner state of being. For example, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” was beyond that red line even though I enjoyed this song 40 years ago when I was DJ in a Club.

The fourth dimension

One evening when Patanga came to the counting area he had a mystical, otherworldly look on his face. He suddenly looked up, lifted his right arm and pointed to the sky. He did not say anything. I was reminded of a scene in Martin Strel’s movie about swimming the entire length of the Amazon river (3273miles/5268km) in 2007. There is a moment in the film where he is alone standing on the shore of the Amazon in the middle of the Jungle and you see him from the back, immersed in this glorious nature, pointing with both hands to the sky. They are declaring in the film that Martin has entered “the fourth dimension”. For me the “fourth dimension” signifies the moment when there is no more separation between Paradise, you and nature, you become completely part of it. It is a direct, authentic, immediate experience of nature as it really is and you are part of it.

A multi-day race or other similar events (or even long training runs in beautiful nature) help greatly to become more subtle and receptive to this kind of experience. There were moments in this year’s race where these “ecstatic” moments of grace appeared, mainly in the morning at dawn.

The “4 Lap Interview” with Ananda Lahari

Ananda Lahari does not speak much during a race, his smile though has become legendary. I feel privileged therefore to have had the opportunity to do 4 laps with him. Maybe this exception happened because it was meant to be, like the fact that we were neighbours both on our race tables as well as with our tents, both totally “by chance”. I had just come out of the medical tent, in the morning of day 3. After a good early session of 8-9 laps of “refreshed” running, I suddenly felt a shooting pain in the shin of my right leg... I had become one of the many victims of shin splints and was not happy about it. In the corner after the medical tent and the bathrooms, Ananda Lahiri was just appearing and we started to walk together. He gave me an insight into his unique life and running universe and also greatly encouraged me concerning my shin splints. He gave me an overview of how people have dealt with it both physically as well as mentally. He mentioned cases where runners were able to get rid of shin splints within hours! (Some of us may remember just the opposite - the 14 days Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk was walking because of shin splints during one of the 3100-mile races in New York...).

Ananda Lahiri also concretely gave me tips for the best foot movement so that the foot would be relaxed but still locked to avoid the stress on the shin when rolling up. I used all of the advice as good as possible and it felt almost like a miracle that the pain almost disappeared and I could keep a good walking pace. Running though was out of the question. That is why this article is called “A long walk to myself ”.

The Master's Breath

One other thing Ananda Lahari mentioned was that he would sometimes focus simply on his breath. Then, he said, everything becomes completely simplified and focused.

There was a moment when the race was really difficult and I started to focus also on the breath. I started to breathe through the nose which I did not normally do before and I started to repeat mantras in rhythm with the breath. “Supreme” did not work so well but “Guru” worked very well. I would breathe in with Gu- and breath out with -ru. After having done this for a while I suddenly felt the Master totally close. It felt like he was opening some inner chambers for me to come in. That was probably my most fulfilling experience of the whole race.

Love and Serve

I love running the nights where all is more quiet and there are less distractions. One early morning, maybe around 2 am, Rupantar (the SCMT director) was just leaving from the counting station where he had jumped in and we met for a few seconds. I thanked him for putting on this great event and mentioned that it is simply “invaluable”. It is valuable beyond measure. Just the experiences of even one runner seem so tremendously beneficial. He was smiling and it became a treasured moment. I felt what others have said before: there is so much love, dedication, and service going into an event like that. I felt this from the set-up crew that was extremely helpful with putting up the tents, to the great cooking teams, the medical staff and also the counters. Specially those that were announcing the miles were all great and really added a very supportive energy. More generally, you can see Sri Chinmoy’s signature in all of that. His teaching, his love, love for the world but also very specifically love for the running world, for the runners and also for the ideal of self-transcendence. In the difficult times of a race it is extremely rewarding and consoling to experience this generosity of heart and soul.

The Car Racers Flash Mob

During the last night, from Saturday to Sunday, shortly after 1 am, an avalanche of cars arrived in the parking lot. Very soon there were probably close to a hundred cars. In the middle, some cars with howling motors started to make sliding manoeuvres or demonstrated fast starts. Of course they had no idea that there was a running race going on and that a part of the parking lot was actually a running course. Imagine the runners, in the final period of the race, quite sensitive to what is going on in- and outside themselves. It felt to me like a sudden invasion, a hostile attack before the end of the race. Fortunately the people seemed to be all quite friendly and when the police finally arrived they all left, almost as fast as they appeared.

The Uniqueness of Flushing Meadow

The Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team has held Ultra races in Flushing Meadow park since 1985, for nearly 40 years. Countless races have been held here, and many epic battles between runners or even between runners and nature have taken place here. In 1985 Yiannis Kouros and a few dozen other runners battled through a hurricane, Kouros ending up with a world best of 178 miles (285km). Personally, I always struggle to get used to the permanent noise of the cars from the highways on three sides, the planes that are coming in or starting very low from close by La Guardia airport and also to the unpredictable, extremely fast changing and often cold wind that rattles through the park much of the running time. It adds definitely a layer of challenge on top of the running itself. Fortunately, the noise cancellation headphones are a big help and it is also astounding how quickly the body and the whole system adjust to these new conditions.

Each Journey is different

One thing that I find really fascinating is to see the vast differences in runners; the different nationalities, running styles, attitudes and ambitions and goals. You can clearly see that each runner is on his or her own journey. One day they are flying, the next day they may be nearly dying. Sometimes it seems that all are feeling a new breath of energy at the same time, it is like somebody is infusing energy into the runners or even breathing through the runners and suddenly the faces are lightening up and the bodies are cooperating. I must say I could not see enough of Wei Mings' absolutely incredible running style. His absolutely smooth and harmonious movements were of such grace and beauty it really felt like running in perfection.

Inner World and Outer World

I did not watch any world news, specifically about the war in Ukraine during the entire race. I saw the danger that it would have a negative influence on my mental state and performance. On the other hand I felt clearly that all the runners (and helpers in any function) created such an incredibly positive energy through their efforts and aspiration. It was like a dynamo that was continually charged. I am sure that this positive energy will now continue to do its work in the world atmosphere and help to strengthen the positive forces and energies.

The Golden Shore

I think many if not most of the runners start longing from day 1 for the end of the race. The challenge is huge, the mind is unable to grasp the task, the problems set in soon... I think the longing remains for the duration of the race but then so many incredible things happen during these 6 days: there is an extraordinary depth of experience, there is the wonderful camaraderie, the team spirit, the smiles and warm support from all the helpers, the sense of achievement with each mile that has been put in the personal account. Then you start to realise that you will miss something when it is over, you may realise that something within you just opened up and is now ready to fly, you want to continue...I love running and running has given me so much over the last 40 years. I hope I can run or at least walk to the last day of my life!

I encourage all runners who feel the inspiration to move up to the Ultra level, to multi day running. It is worth the step, a deep, fulfilling experience is almost certainly guaranteed.

Shashanka, 24th April 2022 6 days: 278 miles / 448 km

Author's note: May it be duly noted that these notes were strongly encouraged, if not demanded, by my spiritual brother Devashishu. Several of the topics appeared in creative exchanges while he was a lap announcer in the morning shifts.

Photo Credit: Jowan, www.srichinmoyultraphoto.com / Utpal Marshall, https://perfectionjourney.org
Design of PDF: Bijoy, Zurich, Switzerland / Bird Drawings by Sri Chinmoy

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