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.
Excerpt from Norwegian Airlines in-flight magazine N By Norwegin, QnA, June 2017:
"Very few people have ever finished New York's 5,000km, eight-week-long Self-Transcendence Race, which really pushes runners to the limit.
"If a jog around the block sounds like sufficient exercise to you, spare a thought for a group of runners in New York who, this June, will lap the same block in Queens more than 100 times a day for eight weeks, in an attempt to clock up 3,100 miles (4,989km).
"The Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race - founded in 1997 by spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, who believed sport could enhance spirituality - is the world's longest foot race and undoubtably one of the most gruelling. Taking place entirely along concrete pavement and with limited views (a high school, a playground and baseball field), the race takes place from 6am till midnight every day, and runners cover at least 96km a day for 52 days.
"The have a mindset where they don't think about the distance. They just think, 'How many laps do I have to do today?' and break it down that way,' says associate race director Sahishnu Szczesiul. 'The runners don't think of it as a mental challenge, rather as an oportunity to do something for their spiritual lives."
for more on the 2017 Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race
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