Triathlons / Duathlons

Ironman Wisconsin news 2003

By Shane Facteau
Photos by Paul H. Phillips

Defending Ironman Wisconsin champion Heather Gollnick (Hartford, Wisc.), competing in only her third Ironman event as a professional triathlete, made it three Ironman titles in row by winning the 2003 Ironman Wisconsin triathlon women's title on Sunday in Madison, Wisc.

The 33-year-old Wisconsinite displayed the same form that has seen her post two wins at Ironman Wisconsin in the past two years, as well as earning her an Ironman USA Coeur dâ€šAlene title back in June of this year.

Gollnick posted a strong run of three hours, 24 minutes and 30 seconds to record an overall time of 9:46:28, 20 minutes better than second-place finisher Mary Uhl (Santa Fe, N.M.) Gollnick overcame a strong swim and bike performance by Desiree Ficker (Boulder, Colo.) and quickly erased the five-minute deficit she faced off of the bike. Ficker would later pull out on the run, and Uhl would push into second place, finishing in an overall time of 10:06:39.

Veteran triathlete Lori-Lynn Leach (Spain) finished third in 10:20:30, with Amanda Gillam (Boulder, Colo.) fourth in 10:25:41 and Robin Oswald (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) fifth in 10:35:48.

The men's race featured a spirited three-way battle between three athletes gunning for their first Ironman win.Canada's Dave Harju won the spirited affair, which featured a number of passes among three different athletes.

Harju posted an overall time of 8:55:26, the only athlete in the field to break the nine-hour mark on a day, which saw unseasonably high temperatures pushing into the 90s.

Torbjorn Sindballe (Denmark) and Uwe Widmann (Germany) played a cat and mouse game with Harju, with the Canadian winning his first-ever Ironman title.
Sindballe finished second, a career best, in 9:00:56 with Widmann third in 9:02:50. Ironman veteran Petr Vabrousek (Czech Republic) used a strong run to finish fourth in 9:08:37, with Terry Labinski (Waukesha, Wisc.) finishing fifth in 9:22:59. Labinski was the top age group (amateur) finisher at the event.
More than 1,800 athletes (1,807) from around the world competed in the event, taking place in Madison and surrounding Dane County for the second time. Athletes were competing for 80 qualifying spots to the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii as well as a $25,000 pro prize purse.

Mon. September 15, 2003

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.

"Ashprihanal Aalto,44, from Helsinki Finland won the 19th Annual Self-Transcendence Race in 40 days+09:06:21, taking 23 hours,10 minutes off the record held by German legend Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk. Mr. Aalto averaged 76.776 miles per day (123.559 km).

After he crossed the line he was serenaded with songs, showered with flowers and gifts, congratulated by his fellow runners, and whisked around the course on a specially decorated float proclaiming his ascedency to the top of super-long distance running. The modest, but confident runner used two summers of mountain climbing and altitude training, combined with excellent running races and years of experience to achieve the summit of his running career. He remarked his joy and gratitude to all present, and dedicated his run to his late teacher, Sri Chinmoy, who encouraged him to always set new goals, believe in himself, and have faith in God.

Mr Aalto plans to climb more mountains next year. Indeed, he has reached the summit of running long distance running"

Sahishnu Szczesiul, 3100 Mile Race home page

The former record holder Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk sent this message to Ashprihanal

"I am tremendously happy for you - you deserve the world record! Your constancy and focus is spectacular. I have always admired you for your ease. You run like a feather. This is self-transcendence par excellence. You are the greatest! I am happy for you with all my heart."

- Read more at Perfection Journey

3100 Mile Race home page

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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.

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. Ultra168 is a group of Sydney-based ultra marathon runners who share a passion for running on trails, as well as reporting on what’s happening in the world of trail and ultra running.

Martin Fryer is for me, and for many others one of the Godfather’s of Australian ultra-running. The respect I have for this man is huge. He gets on with his business with little or no fanfare on Facebook, and delivers time and time again with quite staggering results that you really do have to read twice to get a grasp of what he’s just achieved. None more so than his recent effort at the Sri Chinmoy 10 Day race that was recently held in New York where he amassed over 1,100kms over 10 days!

For the complete article...

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About the author:

Two weeks of altitude training in the Alps

by Abhinabha Tangerman

For professional runners high altitude training is an inevitable necessity. It’s a form of legal blood doping, since the lack of oxygen at high altitudes - starting from 1600 meters and up - forces the body to increase its amount of red blood cells, the sprightly little messenger boys that transport oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Most athletes spend about three to four weeks at altitude before an important race, shaping their bodies into highly efficient O2-delivering machines.

Although I’m not a world-class athlete, I do consider myself a passionate runner and amateur of the sport. In Amsterdam where I live and train I am a member of a local running club and regularly run races from 3000 meters to the marathon. And just like any other half-decent amateur runner (my marathon PB is 2:27) I also have impossible dreams and occasional delusions of grandeur. So in a flash of inspiration I decided to accept the invitation of my good friend Vajin Armstrong from the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in New Zealand to join him for two weeks in the Swiss and Italian Alps.

Vajin actually happens to be a world-class athlete in his chosen sport of ultra-trail mountain running. He frowns at anything below marathon distance and often races between fifty and a hundred kilometers, sometimes even a hundred miles. And that’s only the horizontal part of the story, since ultra-trailrunning also involves tackling mountains, sometimes entire ranges of them, making this a sport for hardened individuals and feisty adventurers delighting in physical discomfort, suffering and agony. The upside is they run their races in the most beautiful places in the world, and mostly on trails, forest paths or dirt roads.

Our shared friend (and SCMT member) Samalya Schäfer from Germany also joined us for a few days. We spent our first week together in the Swiss town of Davos, where Vajin would run the Swiss Alpine Ultramarathon, a grueling race of 78K with 2600 meters ‘vertical’ - meaning a tremendous amount of climbing. Samalya and me registered for the friendlier K21, a half-marathon on forest trails with 600 meters of climbing.

Vajin took third place in his race. I ended up 13th after probably the toughest, most unforgiving and most traumatic race of my life. Coming from a country where the highest mountain measures a waspish 300 meters, I was thoroughly unprepared for what I foolishly thought of as just another half-marathon. At the halfway point my tongue was close to my shoelaces. It didn’t help that we missed a turn and ran an extra mile uphill, and then downhill again, adding 3K to what already felt like an ultramarathon. Life is an experience, they say.

One of the best side-effects of high altitude training is that you are permanently surrounded by breathtaking scenery. On my first morning run on the trails in Davos I stumbled upon a beautiful waterfall in a lush forest, framed by the august backdrop of the ever-present towering mountains, and found myself grinning ear to ear with ecstatic glee. I came to the Alps as a kid with my parents and the sweet smell of the pine trees brought back fond childhood memories as well.

In our base camp at 1550 meters we lived our own self-styled Olympian dream, going out twice a day for a run, taking time to stretch, working on our core muscles and eating veggie wraps and pasta, making sure we got our fill of carbohydrates. In the evening we watched running video’s and documentaries about the Kenyans and Ethiopians to keep our inspiration high. And of course we meditated mornings and evening to maintain our spiritual standard and open up our bodies and minds to the divine grace.

We learned meditation from our spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy, who is also the main inspiration in our running lives. His philosophy of self-transcendence and going beyond your present capacities and limitations is the fuel of our athletic careers. Sri Chinmoy’s unimaginable progress as a weightlifter has instilled in us an unshakeable belief that the will of the soul combined with the grace from above can accomplish impossible things. We may not be world-class athletes, but at least we have world-class dreams.

While in Davos we also visited the world-famous track at St. Moritz, an hour train ride away and the mecca of high-altitude training in Europe. Many of the world’s fastest runners at all distances regularly come to St. Moritz to train. Running on its hallowed outdoor track gave us wings, as if some of the speed generated there rubbed off on you. We met a kind-hearted Moroccan runner there, whose PB in the 3000m steeple chase was 8:08 - from another planet altogether.

After Davos, Vajin and I travelled through to Livigno, a little town just across the border in Italy. The view of the mountains there was even more stunning than in Davos. With its little wooden houses and grazing cows, their bells gently chiming, it felt like time had stood still. We did not though, and kept on churning out the miles.

The highlight of that second week was a three hour long run through the valleys and up and over the passes of the surrounding mountains. We ran from 1800 to 2700 meters, Vajin powering up the mountain sides, me trailing far behind feeling like a ninety-year-old, all huff and puff. Yet standing on that mountain top a current of satisfaction and accomplishment run through me, the beautiful view of the valley below its outer reward.

The two weeks flew by in no-time, leaving me utterly inspired and hungry for more.

Next year Vajin wants to go to Ethiopia. I’ll have to start saving up!

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About the author:

Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.

day_24_by_prabhakar_grahak_cunningham_sydney_motivational_speaker.jpg.opt434x290o00s434x290.jpg Grahak will be one of the 12 runners starting Sunday June 14 in the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race. Here are some interviews he has done in the past few days:

'Single-Mindedness of the Very Long Distance Runner' in The Australian (subscription only, but you can reach it by typing 'The Australian Grahak Cunningham' into Google)
Very nice radio interview on ABC Perth - click to listen
Television interview on Channel 9

Grahak's mother seems undeterred by all the media attention her son is getting. When told the time that Grahak's appearance on channel 9 was due to air, her response was 'I'll be out then'. When asked out where, she said 'Out the back, gardening.' :)

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About the author:

We've just created the biography page for the 2015 runners - you can read it here...

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photo: Abhinabha (left) at the award ceremony with previous record holder Angikar

The annual 12 Hour Walk is a walking race held by students of Sri Chinmoy to commemorate their spiritual teacher’s arrival in the United States on April 13th 1964. The Walk starts at 7 p.m. on April 12th and finishes on the morning of April 13th at 7 a.m. If April 12th happens to fall in a weekend, then the Walk is held during the day, starting at 7 a.m. and finishing twelve hours later in the early evening. The walkers circle a city block in the burrough of Queens New York and their laps are counted by volunteers from the Sri Chinmoy Centre.

Some take the Walk as a spiritual pilgrimage and are not concerned about the distance, others try to challenge themselves by trying to cover as many miles as they can. For them it is a pilgrimage and a race. Sri Chinmoy himself loved to challenge his own abilities all the time, so it all done in his spirit.

One April morning several years ago – it must have been 2006 or 2007 – I was sitting at Aspiration-Ground when the awards for the 12 Hour Walk were given out by Sri Chinmoy. Although the winner had covered quite a few miles, it wasn’t close to the existing event record of 65.1 miles set by Angikar in 1998. Sri Chinmoy then said, “I really want that record to go.” Being a fast runner my only athletic concern back then was the marathon. I didn’t intend to enter into the walking world any time soon, since I was afraid it would infringe upon my running capacities, so I never participated in the 12 Hour Walk. Still, after hearing Sri Chinmoy’s comment I thought to myself that one day I would try to break the record. A tiny seed of inspiration was planted in my heart.

It wasn’t until the beginning of this year – 2015 – that the seed finally sprouted into an aspiration-plant and I decided to start training for the 12 Hour Walk to challenge Angikar’s record, which still stood unbroken for the past 17 years. His distance of 65.1 miles (104.8 kilometres) meant an average speed of 5.4 miles (8.7K) per hour.
For three months I made a complete switch from running to walking, training every day of the week. Most days I would do walks of one to two hours. On the weekend I would do a long walk, starting with four hours and gradually lengthening the time to six and even eight hours. After that eight hour walk I felt confident that I had the capacity to complete twelve hours at the necessary speed to break the record.

Race day April 12th fell on a Sunday, which meant that the Walk was held during daylight hours, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The course was a half-mile block on flat concrete sidewalks. I started at a fast clip, covering 18 miles in the first three hours and building a comfortable cushion for the record. With about a hundred walkers participating the course was pretty crowded. It meant an added challenge, since I often had to slalom my way through the slower walkers in front of me.
How to get through twelve hours of continuous walking? For me meditation was the answer. Inwardly I kept chanting mantra’s to keep my mind blank and empty of thoughts. One of the mantra’s I used was my own spiritual name. Sri Chinmoy had said that one’s spiritual name is the best mantra one can use, since it brings you directly in touch with your own soul. I had a very good experience walking this way. Often I felt a higher, vaster consciousness opening up within me, where everything became peaceful and the monotony and pain of the sheer physical effort vanished into the background.

I was fortunate to have many wonderful helpers during the Walk. Rabinath and Unmukta, both from the Sri Chinmoy Centre in The Netherlands, helped me with all my eating and drinking needs. Perhaps the greatest help I received from the previous record holder, Angikar, who had come to watch my record attempt. Before the race he had already given me priceless advice on what to eat and drink. And during the race he provided me with more invaluable advice on my technique. He told me to swing my arms and use my hips more, which helped to increase my stride length. Nobody seemed more eager for me to break the record, even though it was his own! I am forever grateful for his selfless service.

My counter Uddipan, another great helper, constantly kept me informed about my lap times and made sure I stayed within the necessary limits to break the record. I was grateful for my long training walks, which gave me the needed endurance to continue hour after hour at approximately the same pace – although I did slow down a bit in the last three hours. The hardest time was from ten to eleven hours, when fatigue was peaking and I still had two hours in front of me. That one hour seemed like three!

When the eleventh hour struck suddenly everything became light and easy. I felt the pressure cease as the finish came in sight. I knew with certainty I was going to make it and the confidence gave me added strength. That last hour I felt a deep spiritual connection. It was as if a great peace descended and I almost felt like I was walking on clouds instead of concrete pavement. A big crowd had gathered at the start-finish area and every time I passed them a great roar of encouragement went up. The enthusiasm of the crowd gave me tremendous joy! I couldn’t help but break into a huge grin every time I passed.

With twelve minutes to go I passed the start-finish area and realized I could still complete two more laps if I increased my speed. I broke into a speedwalking sprint and managed to do two more laps in just over ten minutes. When the horn blew for the end of the twelve hours I had completed 120 laps plus a little more, totalling 65.9 miles, just over 106 kilometres.

I felt extremely happy to have been able to fulfil Sri Chinmoy’s wish to break the record, and extremely humbled that I was given the capacity to be the instrument to do it. I always try to feel that it is not me who is doing the running or walking, but the Divine in me who is acting in and through me. In the end it is the divine grace that grants us the capacity to go beyond our preconceived limitations, to transcend ourselves.

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About the author:

The 2015 Self-Transcendence 6 & 10 Day Races was covered by the most important ultrarunning website in Finnland,
ultrajuoksu.fi.

Although in Finnish, the article kept track of the top three men and women throughout the races.

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About the author:

The 36th Anniversary of Sri Chinmoy's first marathon run was celebrated worldwide by various chapters of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. Sri Chinmoy ran 22 official marathons. His first marathon was run on March 2, 1979 at the Bidwell Classic Marathon, Chico, California in a time of 4:31:34.

Despite multiple ice and snow storms, local members of the New York based Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team lined up on a freezing March 7th to celebrate Team founder Sri Chinmoy's first marathon run. However, although the original intent was to run a marathon, due to severe icing, the Team members lined up at the start and honored the occasion instead by singing Sri Chinmoy's song dedicated to the marathon.

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About the author:

medium_screen_shot_2014-12-13_at_3.06.45_pm.png The Book of Extremes (Das Buch der Extreme, available at Amazon - German only), highlights the longest certified road race in the world, the Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race, held annually in Queens, New York.

"Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race: Kings of Queens. 3100 miles equal 4989 kilometers. The participants in the annual Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race cover this distance, a little more than the distance from Lisbon to Moscow, in maximum 52 days. At least the course is not particularly difficult, no mountains are in the way of the runners.The course is flat for the whole distance and because the race is being held on a loop, the runners have run 5649 laps." (translated from the book).

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About the author:

The Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team has been sponsoring multi-day races for a long time (and not just in New York). Sahishnu, one of our long standing New York based race directors, had time to calculate the total number of miles run by all the runners (1,945) who have participated in our New York based multi-days races from 1985 through 2014. That adds up to alot of miles run: 1,333,725 miles or 2,145,422.1 km.

International multi-day races sponsored by Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in New York 1985-2014

5 Day Race 1985-1987

1985-November 29 - December 4: 15 runners - 3,668 miles

1986-November 7 - November 12: 15 runners - 3,902 miles

1987-November 7 - November 12: 29 runners - 7,739 miles

7 Day Race 1988-1995

1988-October 14 - Oct 21: 15 runners - 5,897 miles

1989-May 6 - May 13: 21 runners - 7,185 miles

1990-May 7 - May 14: 17 runners - 6,785 miles

1991-May 6- May 13: 28 runners - 9,951 miles

1992-May 3 - May 10: 20 runners - 7,218 miles

1993-May 2 - May 9: 19 runners - 6,246 miles

1994-May 8 - May 15: 26 runners - 8,389 miles

1995-May 7 - May 14: 32 runners - 11,805 miles

Ten Day / Six Day 1996-2014 (1998 Six Day was added)

1996-April 25 - May 5: 21 runners - 10,274 miles

1997-April 24 - May 4: 13 runners - 5,494 miles

1998-April 30 - May 10: 35 runners - 12,750 miles

1999-April 29 - May 9: 22 runners - 9,432 miles

2000-April 26 - May 6: 42 runners - 16,345 miles

2001-April 25 - May 5: 59 runners - 24,081 miles

2002-April 24 - May 4: 33 runners - 11,641 mile

2003-April 23 - May 3: 38 runners - 13,868 miles

2004-April 28 - May 8: 52 runners - 19,839 miles

2005-April 27 - May 7: 51 runners - 18,410 miles

2006-April 26 - May 6: 48 runners - 18,901 miles

2007-April 25 - May 5: 77 runners - 31,343 miles

2008-April 26 - May 6: 75 runners - 32,752 miles

2009-April 22 - May 2: 79 runners - 33,062 miles

2010-April 21 - May 1: 68 runners - 26,609 miles

2011-April 18 - April 28: 72 runners - 30,238 miles

2012-April 18 - April 28: 70 runners - 28,366 miles

2013-April 17 - April 27: 78 runners - 32,650 miles

2014-April 19 - April 29: 80 runners - 35,339 miles

1000 Mile Race 1985,1986

1985-May 1 - May 16: 12 runners - 6,678 miles

1986-April 26 - May 11: 13 runners - 9,867 miles

Ultra Trio (1300 mile;1000 mile;700 mile) 1987-2004

1987-June 5 - June 23: 24 runners- 15,527 miles

1988-May 20 - June 7 (1000 mile was IAU world championship): 35 runners - 19,588 miles

1989-September 18 - October 6: 28 runners- 17,132 miles

1990-September 18-October 6: 22 runners- 13,761 miles

1991-September 16 - October 4: 61 runners- 37,129 miles

1992-September 13 - October 2: 28 runners - 18,234 miles

1993-September 15 - October 5: 33 runners- 20,914 miles

1994-September 12 - October 1: 35 runners- 17,291 miles

1995-September 10 - September 29: 19 runners- 12,708 miles

1996-September 11 - September 27: 21 runners - 13,652 miles

1997-September 8 - September 26: 24 runners - 14,194 miles

1998-Races Cancelled

1999-September 5 - September 24: 24 runners - 16,240 miles

2000-September 4 - September 23: 36 runners - 25,167 miles

2001-September 4 - September 23: 34 runners - 23,178 miles

2002-September 10 - September 29: 23 runners - 17,096 miles

2003-September 8 - September 27: 19 runners - 15,507 miles

2004-September 13 - October 2: 25 runners - 14,131 miles

2700 Mile Race (1996)

June 13 - July 31: 6 runners- 14,900 miles

3100 Mile Race 1997-2014

1997-June 12 - August 2: 5 runners - 12,199 miles

1998-June 13 - August 3: 6 runners - 16,075 miles

1999-June 20 - August 10: 5 runners - 13,570 miles

2000-June 18 - August 11: 4 runners - 12,000 miles

2001-June 17 - August 7: runners - 9,300 miles

2002-June 16 - August 6: 6 runners - 18,600 miles

2003-June 15 - August 13: 6 runners - 17,965 miles

2004-June 13 - August 3: 12 runners - 35,091 miles

2005-June 12 - August 14: 13 runners - 40,300 miles

2006-June 13 - August 13: 15 runners - 43,500 miles

2007-June 17 - August 18: 12 runners - 34,819 miles

2008-June 15 - August 10: 14 runners - 40,872 miles

2009-June 14 - August 9: 13 runners - 36,609 miles

2010-June 13 - August 8: 11 runners - 31,102 miles

2011-June 12 - August 6: 10 runners - 29,516 miles

2012-June 17 - August 8: 12 runners - 33,158 miles

2013-June 16 - August 6: 12 runners - 35,728 miles

2014-June 15 - August 5: 14 runners - 40,248 miles

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About the author:

Challenging Impossiblity is a 2011 documentary film by Sanjay Rawal, which chronicles the weightlifting odyssey of the spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy, who in 1984 at the age of 54 took up weightlifting, performing many feats of strength over a 22 year period.

The October issue of the in-flight Hemispheres magazine from United lists Challenging Impossibility in the 'What you want to watch' section of available in-flight films.

The documentary debuted in the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011 and has since been shown in festivals in over 20 countries around the world.

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About the author:

The 60th Anniversary Issue of Sports Illustrated highlights Sarvagata Ukraniskyi's victory in the longest certified foot race in the world, the Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race.

Excerpt from the article written by Elliot Chester called 'Marathon and On and On': "Less than 1% of Americans have ever run a marathon. Over six weeks Sarvagata Ukrainskyi ran two, occasionally three, a day on his way to winning his second Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race..." read more on the Sports Illustrated site »

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About the author:

Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.

Article from Dagens Næringsliv (Norway largest daily business newspaper), published on 9th August, 2014. The following is a translated excerpt (thanks to Premananda for the English translation):

Queens boiled and steamed in 35 degrees. A quick sprint to the subway and the clothes could be wrung up. Most people preferred cooled of air inside cars and buildings. Those outside, sagged slowly along the streets or were drowsing away in the shadows.

But in a living area in the borough of Queens three women and eleven men were running. Up 84th Avenue. Across 168th Street. Along the highway Grand Central Parkway. Down 164th Avenue. A rectangle of 883 meter around a fenced in high school, a soccer field and a playground.

Then they did it again. And again. And again and again. From 6 am until midnight. For 52 days in a stretch they were running, with change of direction every morning for the sake of some variation, on a sidewalk cast of concrete - much harder than asphalt.

They started on June 15th. When the organizers drew the line on Tuesday this week, eight of the runners had completed the required 5000km. In spite of injuries, illness and horrible blisters: none had broken along the way. None had taken even a single day off.

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About the author:

Ian Corliss interviews William Sichel from Orkney, Scotland, who in 2014 became the oldest person at 60 to successfully complete the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, the world's longest certified foot race.

"...it was a once in a lifetime experience. In a way, all this builds to make the event what it is. It’s part of the process. It focuses the mind. It’s part of the journey and ultimately what the self-transcendence is about." See more at RunUltra.com.uk

Watch: William's finish, filmed by fellow runner Pranjal Milovnik

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About the author:

Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.

Inside the world's longest race: CBS This Morning
"The marathon is the equivalent of running from New York to Los Angeles (2,700 miles), and then going another 400 miles north to San Francisco just for kicks. The race was inspired by spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, who believed long-distance running can help people overcome their preconceived limitations." read more »

Endless Summer Race: City Room, New York Times
“I see them running every day and I think, ‘These people never sleep,’” said Rashdeep Singh, who lives nearby. The runners go from 6 a.m. to midnight, pausing for meals in plastic cups, water and a fresh pair of shoes. Before the race ends next week, each will have exhausted about 25 pairs. read more »

More coverage:

- Fox 5 News: Runners seek spiritual experience(link is external) - see video below
- Public Radio International's 'The World'

Video by AFP news agency:

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July 30, 2014 - Karteek Clarke, member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon and Swimming Team swam the slowest and toughest of his 11 Channel crossings on 30 July (19 hours and 1 minute). He is indeed a champion of champions. Looking at the map of his route, you’d think he really didn’t have a clue where France was, or else was getting awful advice from his crew. This drunken arc is all the work of the tides: his swim was made all the more challenging for falling on a Spring tide, the strongest and most wilful of ocean currents.

Imagine swimming in a pool on the roof of a building. While you are swimming, King Kong picks up the building, puts it onto a gigantic swing, and starts rocking the swing through an enormous arc in the sky. You think you’re swimming in a straight line which you sort of are but your position on a GPS goes all over the place. For the whole 19 hours, Karteek was swimming straight towards France, yet the tide ensured his predominant motion was always sideways. There were times when – even though Karteek was always swimming forwards and towards France due to the tide and the curvature of the coastline, he was actually moving further away from the shore.

Karteek takes a feed, watched by his helper, Devasishu Torpy.

Don’t even start to imagine what this can do to your mind and your will! Now imagine that the ‘pool’ you are swimming in is actually a huge washing machine or butter churner (oh yes, and it’s also very, very cold in there). No two strokes you take are the same—one moment you breathe to your left and a mammoth wave smacks your face; the next you stroke to the right and flail in thin air at the edge of a heaving precipice. Especially at night, your universe above, below and all around – is a constant unstable relentless surging disarray. Only the shore is certain: it can be seen, always apparently just ahead (at night you see the lights) — but where and when it will be reached is not worth guessing at.

To me, the most impressive and amazing thing about Karteek’s performance, is that he never once – not once – asked where he was or how far or how long he had to go. That seemed almost irrelevant. Yet how the mind – in the midst of constant sickness, disorientation and discomfort – must have been screaming to know “How far??” For hour after hour after hour, he could see the shore ahead. As the sun set, France was looming – and all through the night, the lights were just there before us – though day had dawned before the pilot finally declared the water too shallow for the boat to proceed and bid Karteek to swim ashore alone.

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About the author:

Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.

It's hard to grasp the magnitude of 3100 Mile race. Fortunately, the town of Chicken, Alaska (population 17) happens to lie exactly 3100 miles away from the finish line in Queens NY. So if the race were to start in Chicken and finish in New York, how far would the runners be towards their goal today? Currently they are on day 28 out of 52.

You can click on the image to see it full size. Thank you to Matthias van Baaren from Vienna for this!

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About the author:

Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.

Around the world, endurance athletes are pushing themselves further and harder than ever before. While some of these athletes choose to race in the heart of the world's biggest cities, many journey to parts of the globe where human beings are the exception rather than the norm, places like Antarctica, Death Valley or the middle of a storm-swept Southern Ocean...

The 'World's Toughest Endurance Challenges' is a celebration of these extraordinary events and the athletes who take part in them.

Excerpt from the flyleaf of Richard Hoad and Paul Moore's book. For more information on the authors and how to purchase the book, visit challengeguides.com.

About the author:

Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.

Hubert Beck, author of the German best seller The Big Book on Marathon Running, describes in his latest book, Ultramarathon Running, how a marathon runner can develop into an ultramarathon runner. The book offers different training schedules for a variety of ultra events as well as important nutritional information. The presentation of ultrarunning stars, as well as a history of the sport, completes the book. The book includes a section on Sri Chinmoy, founder of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, which has been a leader in presenting ultra running events for the past 40 years.

The book is in German and can be purchased on Amazon at:http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/3767911531/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

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About the author:

Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.

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