Inspiration from the 2022 edition of the 3100 Mile Race

This year's Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race finished recently with 11 runners completing the distance or running as many miles as they could manage in 52 days. The race was founded by spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy, in 1997, as a vehicle to allow people to test their limits of self-transcendence. It is a challenging race which gives runners to dig deep into their physical, mental and spiritual reserves. This year's race around a block in Jamaica, Queens, New York, featured several days of heavy rain - one of the numerous outer challenges the runners had to face.

The women's champion was Susan Marshall from Auckland, New Zealand, she was inspired to take up distance running after observing how other runners were changed by the experience. As she relates.

“The people I saw who had achieved these races, they had a special quality about them which I felt quite drawn to,”

Susan Marshall also reported how the race's founder, Sri Chinmoy gave her inspiration to take on this unique challenge.

“He [Sri Chinmoy] believed we all had so many dreams inside of ourselves, but we often don’t have the courage or conviction or whatever to actually go out and fulfil them and these are the things which are going to make our world and our own lives something which is very meaningful to us,”  (Kiwi Runner Susan Marshall's 5,000km race of self-discovery)

The winner for the third consecutive year was Andrea Marcato, in a time of 43 days, three hours 20 mins and 27 seconds. Throughout the race Andrea exuded determination, focus and concentration. After the race he mentioned how as well as his great physical fitness, he relies on the power of prayer and meditation to go deeper and persevere in the face of the physical challenges.

The race is promoted by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and requires an international team of volunteers to help count, cook and provide for the runners.

Video of the race

In this highlights video, many of the runners commented on the significance of the race and how it can help cultivate goodwill and oneness between people of different countries. Something picked up on by the media.

Finishing times 2022

1. Andrea Marcato: 43 days 03:20:27
2. Ashprihanal Aalto: 45 days 16:28:47
3. Lo Wei-Ming: 46 days 15:01:43
4. Vasu Duzihy 48 days 10:59:02
5. Susan Marshall: 50 days 16:23:53
6. Stutisheel Lebedev: 51 days 15:37:47
7. Huang Lan Yang - 3,000.2 miles
8. Stephen Redfern - 2728 miles
9. Kaneenika Janakova - 2658.9 miles
10. Ananda-Lahari Zuscin - 2637.5 miles
11. Nirbhasa Magee - 1543.2 miles

Further reading

• List of media articles on the event.
• Highlights of this year's race at 3100 Sri Chinmoy Races.