THE FIRST WEEK AT THE SRI CHINMOY 3,100 MILE RACE.
Time sometimes seems to stand still at the Sri Chinmoy 3,100 mile race, yet here we are on day 8 of the 2025 race with one week completed.
I have been here in Queens, helping as a volunteer again, from the start of the race, and am staying for another 8 days. It is a fascinating event to be involved with. I am not pushing out my boundaries, like the runners, by running many miles each day, but as a volunteer, you become engrossed day by day in your own tasks, which in themselves offer their own insight into the enormity of the race.
You also try to seek some perspective of where this event, which is the longest certified road race on the planet, fits into the global sporting arena.
A short four-mile jog away at nearby Flushing Meadow Park, the US Open Tennis has worked its way through its second week. Another thrilling final between two global sports superstars, Jannick Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, will draw a full house to The Arthur Ashe Stadium, and a global audience of millions will tune in to watch or listen as the clash unfolds.
By contrast, here at the Sri Chinmoy 3,100-mile race for the last 7 days at 84th Avenue in Queens, our ten intrepid adventurers have been steadily circling the block of the Thomas Edison High School, clocking up the miles while taking part in the world’s longest road race.
They are watched by a mere handful of enthusiastic volunteers and supporters at the race HQ, and a similar handful of ultra enthusiasts are watching the live webcam and the scoreboard as it updates to the world.
Not for them the explosive serves, smashes, and volleys of the tennis court. Our runners are more concerned with conserving energy and running as conservatively and consistently as possible. That is the essence of Multi-day Ultra Running.
The first week has seen fine sunny days, very warm in the afternoons with no rain until late on the 7th evening, just as the day was ending.
In general statistics for the first week of the race, our 10 runners have collectively recorded 8,119 laps of the 0.548406 mile/0.882 Km loop around Thomas Edison High School with a cumulative mileage of 12,396 Miles/19,536.792 Km.
Four of our runners have reached 500 miles/8.046Km with 5 more passing that milestone in the next 24 hours. Our race leader, Andrea Marcato, is now through 600 miles.
With the exception of Ananda-Lahari Zuscin, all are above or comfortably in touch with the red baseline daily average of 59.8 miles a day that is needed to reach the goal in the 52-day cutoff.
You can see the race unfolding in numbers and short videos HERE
The outer statistics are like the ripples on the surface of the sea. Beneath the surface is a vast ocean. Likewise, the ripples only give one idea of the whole story. Inwardly, all the runners are experiencing all manner of challenges to deal with.
Week one is all about adaptation as body, mind, and soul adjust from normal daily life to a daily routine of just a few hours of sleep and a daily schedule of covering between 57 and 75+ miles a day. All broken up with snacks and meals on the move, plus powernaps and massage breaks. It’s a tough, almost Spartan existence.
The professional tennis players at this week’s US Open, just like the amateur 3,100-mile runners, are all striving to achieve their own goals and life-defining moments.
Next week or the week after, the tennis players will move on to another tournament in their schedule.
Like the first 5 to 10km of a marathon, they are easing themselves into the race, establishing their own routines. For the experienced ones,old routines are slowly remembered, and for the first time runners, they are slowly figuring things out and inwardly coming to terms with the enormity of this wonderful challenge.
For the 3,100 runners, several more weeks of circling the block are, the schedule.
The vision of race founder Sri Chinmoy, to create an event that not only stretches the imagination of onlookers, but also the imagination of the runners, and to some extent the helpers, certainly makes the seemingly impossible almost inevitable.
Fot the full Who, what, where, when, why of the 3,100 mile race see THIS POST
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Adrian Tarit Stott.
The author is a former GB 24-hour ultra international with over 100 ultra race completions. He has also been involved in organising ultra-distance races for over 30 years. Still an active recreational runner, he is currently a member of UKA’s Ultra Running Advisory Group (URAG) and the Mountain and Trail Advisory Group. He also contributes as part of the selection and team management for both Scottish and GB ultra teams. A freelance writer in his spare time, he contributes articles and reports to several websites and magazines including Athletics Weekly and Irunfar.
