It was mostly cloudy all day, at night the rain came. Andrea the Great finished before the rain started.
On this special day, the excitement began to grow throughout the day in anticipation of Andrea's glorious finish. An archway of balloons was constructed on the finish line. A victory cake had been prepared for the occasion. At the end of his penultimate lap, Andrea was given an Italian flag and a 3100-mile race flag to carry in each hand around the final lap. He was also adorned with a cape in the Green, White and Red colours of his national flag. He flew around the course in the dark and everyone waited for him to emerge along the final straightaway. As the flying and fearless hero finally came into sight, a great cheer went up from the spectators, who had formed a socially distanced wave to bring him to the finish line. Fireworks were lit and rose petals thrown. Conches were blown and bells were rung.
After 43 day and 12 hours, Andrea completed his heroic endeavour, brimming with joy and energy. He took a seat and his fellow countryman, Nivedak Corradini, placed the victory laurel on his head. He sat like a Roman emperor, basking in the delight. He finished the 3100 miles in 43 days, 12 hours, 7 minutes and 26 seconds. New record for the best first timer!!! He is the 5th person who finished the 3100-Mile Race under 44 days. And averaged over 71 miles per day.
Photo: Bijoy's - photos of finish.
He ran the second half of the race faster than the first. The little ceremony was done with a few of Sri Chinmoy’s songs, a short speech from our race director Smarana (he himself has run the 3100 ten times) and then from Andrea.
A huge cake was given on Andrea’s lap. He was sitting on the side of the scoreboard. Afterwards he went for another ten laps to finish 5000km. After completing the 5000km landmark he did one final ‘Gratitude-Lap’. Impressive!
Andrea mentioned that the last three days felt for him longer than the whole race before.
What I saw in him was a sportsman on the peak of his physical fitness. Also mentally and emotionally very strong being over 20 years a spiritual son of Sri Chinmoy. Andrea is a man full of determination and at the same time full of sweetest heart-power.
Ushika brought it up to 101,2 km, which brought him the honour of the winner of the day because Andrea finished 6 hours before the day ended. If Ushika keeps going like this he will finish Sunday night. Milan achieved 91,8 km. He is having a good teamwork with Diogo his handler from Portugal. Thank you Diogo! Plus quite a few friends from Czech Republic were visiting this weekend.
Nirbhasa had little energy this day. But still he could manage to bring it up to 93,9 km, which gave him the 2nd place for the day. His brother Sadanand is a great helper! Thank you Sadanand!
Ananda-Lahari is still walking, doing the same mileage as yesterday 80,3 km. He finished the day at 11:46 pm. Yesterday during the day he met me at the course and said it is a real Victory, isn’t it? Of course meaning the whole race….
Priyavadin
Andrea Marcato, 38, from Italy won the pandemic version of the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, that was held in Salzburg, Austria. The athletic Mr Marcato, who currently lives in Zurich, became the fastest first-time runner to finish the longest multi-day race on the calendar, completing 3100 miles in 43 days+12:07:26. He averaged 114.480 km/ 71.268 miles per day. Out of the 49 people in the world who have completed the 3100 mile race, he is now ranked fifth fastest. To give some insight into his physical prowess, Andrea ran his first 1000 miles in 14:05:20:20- an Italian national record. His second 1000 miles improved to 14:01:56:27. His third was the best of the three- 13:23:14:10. Self-transcendence was the order of the race for Mr Marcato.
He and four other men have been running up to 18 hours a day since September 13th. The four other competitors have another eight days to reach the 3100-mile goal. The venue was only secured, and permission obtained for the race to take place not even two weeks before the start.
The 3100 Mile Race was the gift vision of Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007), a spiritual master of the highest order, originally from South India, whose Marathon Team, founded in 1977, has been putting on multi-day events in New York since 1985. The first 3100 Mile Race was held in 1997. All the previous versions have been on a 883.2 meter course in Jamaica, NY. Because of cancellation due to covid-19, the Salzburg effort was a boon to this group of starters. A beautiful, accessible park with spectacular vistas may have helped the happy Mr Marcato climb to new heights in the running world. The smiling helpers, encouraging at all hours of the day and night, were also a major factor. Thank you Salzburg and Austria, you have made the 3100 family very proud and humble at the same time.
Hometown stat:
Ushika Muckenhumer- 2700 miles- 43:07:29:30
Go runners…. Always
Sahishnu
Related
More about: