Today is the opening day of the Self Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, the longest certified road race in the world. For the best part of the next two months, 13 runners will be pacing around a half mile loop in Jamaica, New York for eighteen hours a day, aiming to push their capacities to the very limit in one of the toughest endurance tests imaginable. This is the eleventh holding of this epic race. Last year, Madhupran Schwerk from Germany shattered the race record, completing the distance in the astonishing time of 41 days and 8 hours. Madhupran is not competing this year, but three-time winner Ashprihanal Aalto from Finland will be looking to transcend last-year’s time of 43 days and 15 hours.
The race features three new competitors this year looking to try their hand at this most challenging of distances; Vlastimil Dvoracek and Petr Spacil (fresh – if that word can be applied – from his victory in the Self-Transcendence Ten-Day Race in April) from the Czech Republic, and Grahak Cunningham from Perth in Australia. Suprabha Beckjord, the sole female entrant in the race, is also the only person to complete all ten previous editions.
This race is organised by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, who have been putting on events for the sporting community around the world for the past 30 years. Many of their events, such as the 3100 Mile and Six and Ten Day Races in New York, the Triple-Triathlon in Australia or the 24 hour lake swim in Zurich, really offer a challenge to those who participate and an oportunity to extend their true potential.
You can watch a video of the 2007 race start on Sri Chinmoy TV…
Related links:
- Catch up on all the latest news on the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team blog...
- Watch some 3100 Mile race videos from 2006 on SriChinmoy.tv ….
- Watch video clip of 2006 race from ABC News…
- In this footrace, the last 3,000 miles are the toughest – article from Columbia News Service
- Blog entry on last year’s race by Joy Bringer @ Zaadz
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