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Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race
Logo
Date	June–August
Location	Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
Event type	Ultramarathon
Distance	3,100 miles (5,000 km)
Beneficiary	Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team
Established	1985 — 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 records	3,100 M: 40 days 09:06:21 Ashprihanal Pekka Aalto (2015); F: 45 days 12:28:44 Tsai Wen-ya (2023)
Official site	3100.srichinmoyraces.org

The Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race is the world's longest certified footrace. 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).

This race, which lasts several weeks, is hosted by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and takes place every summer in Queens, New York City. The course is 3,100 miles (4,989 km) long. Runners negotiate 5,649 laps of one extended city block in Jamaica, Queens, bounded by 164th Place, Abigail Adams (84th) Avenue, 168th Street, and the Grand Central Parkway — a distance of 0.5488 miles (883 m) — while the streets are in normal use. The runners have 52 days 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.

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 many of 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 one of a very few such races in the world, 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 length of 3,100 is possibly a reference to the birth year of Sri Chinmoy, 1931. The race has been run at this distance every year since.

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

In 2021, with the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, organisers decided to move the start date for the race from its usual date, mid-June, to Sunday September 5, 2021.

11 runners were selected for 2022 and the race took place from Sunday September 4 to Tuesday October 25.

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 has changed over the years. For their safety, only runners with proven ultra-running experience are encouraged to apply. The race is run daily, changing direction each day, whatever the weather, which has ranged from 38 °C (100 °F) heat to torrential downpour—runners sometimes carry umbrellas. Competitors run among people going about their everyday lives, dodging pedestrians and cyclists, students at Thomas A. Edison High School, and occasionally large crowds during various events or celebrations.

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 at night for eating, washing, foot care and sleep before returning to the course for the 6:00am start.

The race can be followed on the race website; regular updates for the participants are published there, and a webcam has been operating during recent years. An album of photo images is also published, several days a week, to record race activity.

Records and winners

Records

The world record is held by Ashprihanal Aalto (FIN) 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 (GER). The women's record is held by Tsai Wen-ya (TWN) who completed 3100 miles in 45 days 12:28:44 in 2023. She broke the 48 days 14:24:10 record set by Kaneenika Janakova (SVK) in 2017. Suprabha Beckjord (USA) 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

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
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
1988	700 1000 1300		Sauriya Clarc Yiannis Kouros Stefan Schlett [de]	11:05:42:00 10:10:30:36 1172 miles		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 14:09:45:04 17:08:25:34	-	Essie Garrett Suprabha Schechter -	12:19:26:36 14:20:18:24
1990	700 1000 1300		Peter Hodson Al Howie Ronnie Wong	11:13:38:49 13:09:19:38 1177 miles		Suprabha Schechter Christel Volmerhausen	13:53:00:00 1119 miles
1991	700 1000 1300		Thomas Possert Al Howie	13:14:02:52 16:19:00:00		Sandra Barwick	17:22:46:07
1992	700 1000 1300		István Sipos [hu]	09:14:43:30 - -		Suprabha Beckjord
1993	700 1000 1300		Jeffrey Covell Aleksandr Chulakov István Sipos	11:12:12:13 14:18:29:45 16:17:36:14		Monika Shamita Achenbach-König Dipali Cunningham Antana Locs	11:20:42:46 15:12:52:02 18:12:34:35
1994	700 1000 1300	-	Aleksandar (Namitabha) Arsic Marty Sprengelmeyer -	11:14:30:29 14:08:00:20 -		Catherine Dipali Cunningham Silvia Andonie Graziano Antana Locs	10:05:32:58 14:18:52:38 18:18:49:42
1995	700 1000 1300		Sasa Djordjevic Georgs Jermolajevs	12:01:47:46 - 16:14:00:00		Catherine Dipali Cunningham Dhvaja Dorn -	09:15:14:46 15:22:39:35 -
1996	700 1000 1300 2700		John Wallis István Sipos Georgs Jermolajevs	10:07:25:54 13:22:27:27 - 40:11:00:00	-	Paula Surasa Mairer - Suprabha Beckjord -	11:09:11:05 - 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	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	51:02:09:56
1998	3100	Hungary	István Sipos [hu]	46:17:02:06	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	49:14:30:54
1999	3100	United States	Edward Kelley	48:12:42:46	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	51:14:16:17
2000	3100	Finland	Ashprihanal Aalto	47:13:29:55	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	54:15:51:34
2001	3100	Finland	Ashprihanal Aalto	48:10:56:12	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	52:10:37:42
2002	3100	Germany	Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk	42:13:24:03	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	51:12:08:06
2003	3100	Serbia	Namitabha Arsic	49:02:24:45	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	56:03:00:22
2004	3100	Finland	Ashprihanal Aalto	46:06:55:11	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	55:13:13:00
2005	3100	Serbia	Srdjan Stojanovich	46:10:51:16	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	63:04:23:28
2006	3100	Germany	Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk	41:08:16:29	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	60:04:35:24
2007	3100	Finland	Ashprihanal Aalto	43:04:26:32	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	58:07:54:27
2008	3100	Finland	Ashprihanal Aalto	44:02:42:15	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	56:17:51:22
2009	3100	Finland	Ashprihanal Aalto	43:16:28:06	United States	Suprabha Beckjord	60:08:58:51
2010	3100	Finland	Ashprihanal Aalto	46:07:37:24	No finisher	—	—
2011	3100	Ukraine	Sarvagata Ukrainskyi	44:13:38:52	Austria	Surasa Mairer	53:15:54:25
2012	3100	Australia	Grahak Cunningham	43:10:36:39	No entrants	—	—
2013	3100	Russia	Vasu Duzhiy	47:05:39:00	Austria	Surasa Mairer	50:04:57:24
2014	3100	Ukraine	Sarvagata Ukrainskyi	44:06:58:10	Australia	Sarah Barnett	50:03:55:08
2015	3100	Finland	Ashprihanal Aalto	40:09:06:21	Austria	Surasa Mairer	49:07:52:24
2016	3100	Ukraine	Yuri Trostenyuk	46:01:10:25	Slovakia	Kaneenika Janakova	51:07:31:07
2017	3100	Russia	Vasu Duzhiy	46:17:38:22	Slovakia	Kaneenika Janakova	48:14:24:10
2018	3100	Russia	Vasu Duzhiy	44:16:03:53	Austria	Surasa Mairer	51:12:47:37
2019	3100	Finland	Ashprihanal Aalto	47:01:39:34	New Zealand	Harita Davies	51:09:35:20
2020	3100	Italy	Andrea Marcato	43:12:07:26	No entrants	—	—
2021	3100	Italy	Andrea Marcato	42:17:38:38	New Zealand	Harita Davies	50:13:23:14
2022	3100	Italy	Andrea Marcato	43:03:20:27	New Zealand	Susan Marshall	50:16:23:53
2023	3100	Italy	Andrea Marcato	43:13:33:23	Taiwan	Tsai Wen-ya	45:12:28:44

See also

• Self-Transcendence 6- & 10-day Race

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 Shaw, Sam (August 2007). "Run Like Fire Once More: Chasing perfection at the world's longest footrace". Harper's Magazine. Vol. 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. "The 3100-Mile Longest Official Running Race in the World", youtube.com, 12 September 2023, retrieved 2023-09-15, the 3100 mile distance was chosen in honor of that year.
5. ^ runningmagazine.ca "Italian man wins 3,100-mile ultramarathon after 43 days of running". 28 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
6. srichinmoyraces.org "2021 Self-Transcendence 3100-Mile Race". Retrieved 2021-09-05.
7. "Home". 3100.srichinmoyraces.org.
8. ^ runnersworld.com "Finn Shatters Record in World's Longest Certified Footrace". 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
9. us.srichinmoyraces.org "1000 mile Road Race". 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
10. us.srichinmoyraces.org "Results and Records". 2011-11-18. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
11. us.srichinmoyraces.org "Finish Statistics 1300 mile Race". 1988. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
12. ^ statistik.d-u-v.org "Ultra Marathon Statistics". Retrieved 2017-08-22.
13. ^ "- Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team USA". us.srichinmoyraces.org. Retrieved 2022-01-24.
14. ^ srichinmoyraces.org "About The 3100 Mile Race". 2008-12-14. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
15. cbc.ca "B.C. long-distance runner Al Howie's eccentric story captured in new biography". Retrieved 2019-09-08.
16. ^ lebedev.org "Winners List 1997 - 2011". 2011. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
17. ^ statistik.d-u-v.org "DUV Statistics". Retrieved 2013-03-30.
18. srichinmoyraces.org "2005 Race". 2009-10-29. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
19. Runner's World Madphuran Wolfgang Schwerk. February 2007. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
20. srichinmoyraces.org "2006 Edition". 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
21. srichinmoyraces.org "2007 Race". 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
22. srichinmoyraces.org "Results 2008". Retrieved 2013-03-21.
23. srichinmoyraces.org "Results 2009". Retrieved 2013-03-21.
24. srichinmoyraces.org "Results 2010". 2010-08-04. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
25. Die Presse "(German) New York: Wienerin bewältigt 5000-Kilometer-Extremlauf". 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
26. srichinmoyraces.org "2012 Final Results". 2012-08-16. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
27. ^ srichinmoyraces.org "2013 Results". 2013-08-06. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
28. perfectionjourney.org "Today we celebrate". 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
29. 3100.ws "Day 51: Two More Make It In". 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
30. perfectionjourney.org "Its all Grace". 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
31. srichinmoybio.co.uk "Close finish in Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence 3100 Mile Race". 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
32. 3100.srichinmoyraces.org Nirbhasa Magee (9 August 2016). "3100 Mile Race Results 2016". Retrieved 2023-08-28.
33. srichinmoy.wordpress.com "Vasu finished 3100 mile race in NY". 4 August 2017. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
34. srichinmoycentre.org "New women's world record in 3100 Mile Race (2017)". Retrieved 2017-08-10.
35. ^ 3100.srichinmoyraces.org Sahishnu Szczesiul (7 August 2018). "Day 52: The End of the Road". Retrieved 2018-08-08.
36. srichinmoy.wordpress.com "Ashprihanal finishes Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race in 47 d 1:39:34 h". 2 August 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
37. 3100.srichinmoyraces.org Sahishnu Szczesiul (6 August 2019). "Day 52: Three Finishes". Retrieved 2023-08-28.
38. ruetir.com "Andrea Marcato triumphs in the 4,987 km ultramarathon: this is how he climbed "The Everest of the race"". Retrieved 2021-10-18.
39. stuff.co.nz "Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race: Kiwi runner Harita Davies breaks own record in world's longest race". 26 October 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
40. 3100.srichinmoyraces.org Tejvan Pettinger (27 October 2022). "Final Results for 3100 Mile Race 2022". Retrieved 2023-08-28.
41. scoop.co.nz "New Zealander Susan Marshall Finished First Female & Fifth Overall In Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race". Retrieved 5 April 2023.

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

• Rawal, Sanjay: 3100: Run and Become, Eng. 2018, IMDb 4936398, 79 minutes

External links

• Official website
• Video: Report, WSJ
• Video: Report AFP

40°42′56″N 73°47′59″W / 40.715556°N 73.799653°W / 40.715556; -73.799653 ("Self-Transcendence 3100-Mile Race course")

• Annual events in New York City
• Multiday races
• Ultramarathons in the United States
• Recurring sporting events established in 1986
• 1986 establishments in New York City
• Road running competitions in the United States
• Sports competitions in Queens, New York
• Sports events founded by Sri Chinmoy
• Annual sporting events in the United States
• June sporting events