Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

The Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race is the world's longest certified footrace.[1] In 1996 Sri Chinmoy created this event as a 2,700-mile (4,345 km) race. At the award ceremony that year he declared that the 1997 edition would be extended to 3,100 miles (4,989 km).

Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race
Logo
DateJune–August
LocationJamaica, Queens, Queens, New York, United States
Event typeUltramarathon
Distance3,100 miles (5,000 km)
BeneficiarySri Chinmoy Marathon Team
Established1985 — 1,000 miles;
1987 — 2004 Ultra Trio (700, 1,000 and 1,300-miles);
1996 — 2,700 miles (4,345 km);
since 1997 — 3,100 miles
Course records3,100
M: 40 days 09:06:21 Ashprihanal Pekka Aalto (2015);
F: 48 days 14:24:10
Kaneenika Janakova (2017)
Official site3100.srichinmoyraces.org
Map

This multi-day race is hosted by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and takes place in Queens, New York in the United States from June–August every year. The course is 3,100 miles (4,989 km) long. Runners negotiate 5,649 laps of one extended city block in Jamaica, Queens - 164th Place to Abigail Adams (84th) Avenue to 168th Street to Grand Central Parkway —a distance of 0.5488 miles (883 m), while the streets are in normal use.[2] The runners have 52 days in which to complete the distance, running from 6 a.m. to midnight, an average of 59.62 miles (95.95 km) every day. The prize is typically a T-shirt, a DVD, or a small trophy.[3]

History

The Self-Transcendence 3100 mile was founded by Sri Chinmoy out of his wish to create an opportunity for runners to discover the limits of their capacities and to try to go beyond them. Hence the name "Self-Transcendence", which is appended to all the footraces that the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team hosts. Since 1985 when the group first began holding races, the focus on the ultramarathon and multiday races has grown from the Ultra Trio, three races with staggered starts of 700, 1000 and 1300-mile duration that take place in September, and the spring races, which include the Self-Transcendence 6-Day race and the only annual race of its kind, the Self-Transcendence 10-Day race.

In 1996 Sri Chinmoy created this event as a 2,700-mile (4,345 km) race. At the award ceremony that year he declared that the 1997 edition would be extended to 3,100 miles (4,989 km). The race has been run at this distance every year since.

In 2020 it was held in Austria, Salzburg due to the COVID-19 pandemic from September 13th to November 3rd.[4]

Race

The race distance is the distance from the west to the east coast of the US plus 11 marathons. In the early years there were drug dealers in the area and lawlessness—people did not want to leave their cars, which would have been stripped—but this was later much improved. Only runners with proven ultra-running experience may compete, for their own safety. The race is run every day, changing direction each day, whatever the weather, which has ranged from 38 °C (100 °F) heat to torrential downpour—runners sometimes carry umbrellas.[3] Competitors run among people going about their everyday lives, dodging pedestrians and cyclists.

Sri Chinmoy said that the Self-Transcendence challenges runners to "transcend their own previous capacity", "gain spiritual insights" and "overcome the entire world's pre-conceived notions of possibility". Runners have spoken of "the most overwhelming moment", "When you run a marathon, you feel good ... when you run 3,100 miles, you feel even better still".

Vegetarian meals are provided by volunteers from an improvised kitchen; runners need to eat constantly, burning 10,000 kcal a day. Runners have six hours a day for eating more, washing, footcare and sleep.[3]

Records and winners
2012

Records

The world record is held by Ashprihanal Aalto who finished with a time of 40 days 09:06:21 in July 2015, breaking the previous record of 41 days 08:16:29 held by Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk.[5] The ladies' record is held by Kaneenika Janakova who completed 3100 miles in 48 days 14:24:10 in 2017. She broke the 49 days 07:52:24 record set by Surasa Mairer in 2015. Suprabha Beckjord is the only person to have completed every edition of the race (until 2009). Ashprihanal Aalto has won the race nine times and participated 15 times.

List of winners
Winners of 700, 1000, 1300, and 2700 mile races (predecessors of 3100 mile Race)
Date Distance Men Women
Year Miles Country Athlete Time
(days, hours, minutes, seconds)		 Country Athlete Time
(days, hours, minutes, seconds)
1985 1000
1986 1000 Stu Mittleman 11:20:37:00 [6]
1987 700
1000
1300

Yiannis Kouros
Tom Grace
Marty Sprengelmeyer		 150 miles
567 miles
1250 miles

Antana Locs
Pippa Davis
Izumi Yamamoto		 691 miles
832 miles
825 miles [7]
1988 700
1000
1300

Sauriya Clarc
Yiannis Kouros
Stefan Schlett		 11:05:42:00
10:10:30:36
1172 miles[8]

Suprabha Schechter
Sandra Barwick
Izumi Yamamoto		 10:13:03:45
14:20:45:16
230 miles
1989 700
1000
1300

Noivedya Brower
John Wallis
Al Howie		 11:17:57:00 [9]
14:09:45:04 [9]
17:08:25:34 [9]

-		 Essie Garrett
Suprabha Schechter
-		 12:19:26:36 [9]
14:20:18:24 [9]

1990 700
1000
1300

-
Suprabha Schechter
-
13:53:00:00[10]
-
1991 700
1000
1300


Thomas Possert
Al Howie
13:14:02:52 [9]
16:19:00:00 [11]



Sandra Barwick[10]

17:22:46:07
1992 700
1000
1300

István Sipos

 09:14:43:30
-
-



Suprabha Beckjord[10]
1993 700
1000
1300

Jeffrey Covell
Aleksandr Chulakov
István Sipos		 11:12:12:13 [9]
14:18:29:45 [9]
16:17:36:14

Monika Shamita Achenbach-König
Dipali Cunningham
Antana Locs		 11:20:42:46 [9]
15:12:52:02[9]
18:12:34:35 [9]
1994 700
1000
1300

-		 Aleksandar (Namitabha) Arsic
Marty Sprengelmeyer
-		 11:14:30:29 [9]
14:08:00:20[9]
-

Catherine Dipali Cunningham
Silvia Andonie Graziano
Antana Locs[10]		 10:05:32:58 [9]
14:18:52:38[9]
18:18:49:42 [9]
1995 700
1000
1300

Sasa Djordjevic

Georgs Jermolajevs		 12:01:47:46[9]
-
16:14:00:00[10]
Catherine Dipali Cunningham
Dhvaja Dorn
-		 09:15:14:46 [9]
15:22:39:35[9]
-
1996 700
1000
1300
2700


John Wallis
István Sipos

Georgs Jermolajevs		 10:07:25:54 [9]
13:22:27:27
-
40:11:00:00
-
 Paula Surasa Mairer
-
Suprabha Beckjord
-		 11:09:11:05 [9]
-
43:01:00:00
-
1997 700
1000
1300
2700


Nicola Sinisgalli
Georgis Jermolajevs

Georgs Jermolajevs
 10:18:41:31
12:01:25:47
-
-

-
-		 Paula Surasa Mairer
Dipali Cunningham
-
-		 10:20:20:25
13:20:18:40
-
-
Winners of 3100 mile race (best times: colored background)
Date Distance Men Women
Year Miles Country Athlete Time
(days, hours, minutes, seconds)		 Country Athlete Time
(days, hours, minutes, seconds)
1997 3100  United States Edward Kelley 47:15:19:56 [12]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 51:02:09:56 [12]
1998 3100  Hungary István Sipos 46:17:02:06 [12]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 49:14:30:54 [12]
1999 3100  United States Edward Kelley 48:12:42:46 [12]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 51:14:16:17 [12]
2000 3100  Finland Ashprihanal Aalto 47:13:29:55 [12]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 54:15:51:34 [12]
2001 3100  Finland Ashprihanal Aalto 48:10:56:12 [12]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 52:10:37:42 [12]
2002 3100  Germany Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk 42:13:24:03 [12]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 51:12:08:06 [12]
2003 3100  Serbia Namitabha Arsic 49:02:24:45 [12][13]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 56:03:00:22 [12][13]
2004 3100  Finland Ashprihanal Aalto 46:06:55:11 [12][13]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 55:13:13:00 [12][13]
2005 3100  Serbia Srdjan Stojanovich 46:10:51:16 [12][13]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 63:04:23:28 [13][14]
2006 3100  Germany Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk 41:08:16:29 [13][15]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 60:04:35:24 [13][16]
2007 3100  Finland Ashprihanal Aalto 43:04:26:32 [12][13]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 58:07:54:27 [13][17]
2008 3100  Finland Ashprihanal Aalto 44:02:42:15 [12][13]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 56:17:51:22 [13][18]
2009 3100  Finland Ashprihanal Aalto 43:16:28:06 [12][13]  United States Suprabha Beckjord 60:08:58:51 [13][19]
2010 3100  Finland Ashprihanal Aalto 46:07:37:24 [13][20] No finisher — —
2011 3100  Ukraine Sarvagata Ukrainskyi 44:13:38:52 [12][13]  Austria Surasa Mairer 53:15:54:25 [13][21]
2012 3100  Australia Grahak Cunningham 43:10:36:39 [13][22] No entrants — —
2013 3100  Russia Vasu Duzhiy 47:05:39:00 [23]  Austria Surasa Mairer 50:04:57:24 [23]
2014 3100  Ukraine Sarvagata Ukrainskyi 44:06:58:10 [24]  Australia Sarah Barnett 50:03:55:08 [25]
2015 3100  Finland Ashprihanal Aalto 40:09:06:21 [5]  Austria Surasa Mairer 49:07:52:24 [26]
2016 3100  Ukraine Yuri Trostenyuk 46:01:10:25 [27]  Slovakia Kaneenika Janakova 51:07:31:07
2017 3100  Russia Vasu Duzhiy 46:17:38:22 [28]  Slovakia Kaneenika Janakova 48:14:24:10 [29]
2018 3100  Russia Vasu Duzhiy 44:16:03:53 [30]  Austria Surasa Mairer 51:12:47:37 [30]
2019 3100  Finland Ashprihanal Aalto 47:01:39:34 [31]  New Zealand Harita Davies 51:09:35:20
2020 3100  Italy Andrea Marcato 43:12:07:26 [4] No entrants — —

See also

References
  1. Huffington Post Mathias, Christopher (2011-07-06). "3,100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race 2011 Enters 23rd Day In Queens". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2013-01-23.
  2. Harper's Magazine "Run Like Fire Once More: Chasing perfection at the world's longest footrace". August 2007. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  3. Justin Goulding (21 June 2019). "Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence: The 3,100-mile race around a New York block". BBC Sport. Detailed article on the race, with interviews with runners.
  4. runningmagazine.ca "Italian man wins 3,100-mile ultramarathon after 43 days of running". Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  5. runnersworld.com "Finn Shatters Record in World's Longest Certified Footrace". 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  6. us.srichinmoyraces.org "1000 mile Road Race". 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  7. us.srichinmoyraces.org "Results and Records". 2011-11-18. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  8. us.srichinmoyraces.org "Finish Statistics 1300 mile Race". 1988. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  9. statistik.d-u-v.org "Ultra Marathon Statistics". Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  10. srichinmoyraces.org "About The 3100 Mile Race". 2008-12-14. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  11. cbc.ca "B.C. long-distance runner Al Howie's eccentric story captured in new biography". Retrieved 2019-09-08.
  12. lebedev.org "Winners List 1997 - 2011". 2011. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  13. statistik.d-u-v.org "DUV Statistics". Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  14. srichinmoyraces.org "2005 Race". 2009-10-29. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  15. Runner's World Madphuran Wolfgang Schwerk. February 2007. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  16. srichinmoyraces.org "2006 Edition". 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  17. srichinmoyraces.org "2007 Race". 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  18. srichinmoyraces.org "Results 2008". Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  19. srichinmoyraces.org "Results 2009". Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  20. srichinmoyraces.org "Results 2010". 2010-08-04. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  21. Die Presse "(German) New York: Wienerin bewältigt 5000-Kilometer-Extremlauf". 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
  22. srichinmoyraces.org "2012 Final Results". 2012-08-16. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  23. srichinmoyraces.org "2013 Results". 2013-08-06. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  24. perfectionjourney.org "Today we celebrate". 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  25. 3100.ws "Day 51: Two More Make It In". 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  26. perfectionjourney.org "Its all Grace". 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  27. srichinmoybio.co.uk "Close finish in Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence 3100 Mile Race". 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  28. srichinmoy.wordpress.com "Vasu finished 3100 mile race in NY". Retrieved 2017-08-06.
  29. srichinmoycentre.org "New women's world record in 3100 Mile Race (2017)". Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  30. 3100.srichinmoyraces.org "Day 52: The End of the Road". Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  31. srichinmoy.wordpress.com "Ashprihanal finishes Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race in 47 d 1:39:34 h". Retrieved 2019-08-12.

Further reading
Literature
  • Cunningham, Grahak : Running Beyond The Marathon - insights into the longest footrace in the world, eText Press Publishing, 2012, ASIN B00AK1J0WS
  • Emmaus, PA: Endurancs Special - An ultramarathon is one thing. But 3,100 miles around a city block is something else entirely. What does it take to endure the world's longest (and strangest) race?, Runner's World, Zürich 2007, OCLC 103305923
  • Hoad, Richard : World's Toughest Endurance Challenges, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-1408158852
Film

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