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 race. At the award ceremony that year he declared that the 1997 edition would be extended to 3,100 miles. 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 long. Runners negotiate 5,649 laps of one extended city block in Jamaica, Queens - 164th Place to Abigail Adams Avenue to 168th Street to Grand Central Parkway —a distance of 0.5488 mile, while the streets are in normal use. The runners have 52 days in which to complete the distance, running from 6 a.m. to midnight, an average of 59.62 miles 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 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 race. At the award ceremony that year he declared that the 1997 edition would be extended to 3,100 miles. The race has been run at this distance every year since.
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 heat to torrential downpour—runners sometimes carry umbrellas. 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.
Records and winners
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. 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. Ashprihanal Aalto has won the race nine times and participated 15 times.
