# Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

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 | Men | Men | Women | Women | 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 | Men | Men | Women | Women | 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 |
| 2024 | 3100 | Italy | Andrea Marcato | 43:03:04:06 | No finisher | — | — |