unn1n the distance

A unique 24-hour race has an unusual aim: self-improvement

Syclney's Blacktown

Spores Park hosted the annual Sri Chinmov 12 and 24 -

Hour Race on June 14 and 15 and no, it is not a car rally, it is a nmning race

Held around a 400 -metre athletics track, tbe u ltra-runners in the ma in event sta rt at 10am on a Saturday and finish on 10am on Sund ay

Wid1 competitors facing exhau stion, bad weather, blisters, no prize money and considerable financial and rime commitments just to participate, you might weU ask: why would someone do this?

WeU , it is ail done in the name of 'self- transcendence,' a term Indian running guru and race founder Sri Chinmoy used to describe going beyond ones present capacities.

Runners are encouraged to set goals and compete with themselves. To try hard and dig deep The distances competitors cover and d1e personal goals they set, forces them to overco m e hurdles like doubt and discom fort, and at the end o f the evenL they come our having achieved something momentous.

Spokesman for the Sri Chinrnoy Marathon Team (SCMT), the voluntee r group which conducts d1e Sydney 24- Hour event, Prachar Stegemann said , "\Vhen we challenge and improve o urselves, the world around us improves wi d1 us. Each step the runn ers take, if it is done in the right spirit, can add to the idea that each one of us can contribute to a better place".

The SCMT is one of the largest conducrors of fimess events in the world. Run entirely by volunteers, it was founded by Sri Chinmoy to promote nmning to die public. As a runner himse lf, he encouraged people from all ages and background s to wo r k o n thei.r fitness to maintain a balance bet:\veen their inner a nd o uter life.

"The inner life and the outer life muse go together," he stated "The bod y is like a temp le and di e sou l or inner reality is like the shrin e inside the body- temple. If d1e temple does not have a shrin e, then we cannot apprecia te the temple. Again, if we do not keep the temple in good condition, then how can we take proper care of the sh1·ine?"

The Sydney 24- Hour, like all SCMT event s, asks competitors to have a few moments' silence before the start gw1 co contemplate going deeper within and to pe r haps combine the activity of rnnning and meditation.

Th is yea r, every competitor got into d1e spirit of u·ying their best. Some competed for the first time, odiers attempted to remain cheerful despite injuries or difficulties, man y set personal bests and some re- wrote the record books.

Proving that age is no barrier, the open 24- Hour race was taken out by the sixty-one-year-old i ew Zealander Bryan McCorkingdale, running 223km in tbe aUotted 24 hours. He won a dose tussle from \Xiodonga athlete Kevin Muller (221km)

The female champion was Meredith Quinlan wh o ran 215 km but it was in the 12- Hour that some of the most impressive results came.

\.'\lest Australian psychologist Bernadette Benson ttaveUed the Jong distance to Sydney and came into the race w ith a mission to run fast and take home some re.cords. L1 a gritty and focused performance she covered a remarkable 133 kilometres. Amongst many others, she now holds Open Au stralian 12-hour, 24-hour, 100mile, and 200 -km re.cords "Her speech at the awards ceremony was memorable," commented 24-Hour race director Marrin Fr yer.

"She brought all the runners into her victory, by expl aining how she had watched od1ers going through their o wn tough times and drawing on the strength an d courage they aU showed".

"Rtmners band toged1er to encourage each other;" mentions Bernadette on her blog. "Going past peop le, I'd get snippets of conversations where people were talking about their goals, their revised goals, and their chall enges, and getting support from others who, in fact, we te d1eir competition! What othe r kind of race is like th is?"

The event was certainly an inspiration to the many wellwishers, competitors and helpers who attended and it will all be happening again in. 2015.

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