By Alex Ginsberg
Trishul Cherns has been around the block.
5,648 times.
The 46-year-old Middle Village man completed the longest certified foot race in the world Saturday morning, crossing the finish line on the sidewalk along the southern edge of the Joseph Austin Playground in Jamaica Hills. In the two-month period since June 15, Cherns walked and ran 3,100 miles, repeating a .54-mile circuit around the park every day from 6 a.m. to 12 midnight.
“Just to finish this is like climbing Mt. Everest,” Cherns said. “Our mountain might be flat, but we're still going up.”
And Cherns did not even finish first in the physically exhausting, sneaker-mashing, toe-warping ordeal. Six others ran in the seventh annual Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Race. Two reached 3,100 miles several days ahead of Cherns, one will finish soon after he did and two will not complete the 3,100 miles before the race ends Aug. 15. One other participant dropped out earlier because blisters on his feet were in danger of becoming infected.
The seven daring souls gave up jobs and responsibilities in the United States, Yugoslavia, Austria, Wales, Germany and Australia to enter the race. All adhered to the 18-hour-per-day schedule, walking and running a circuit that sent them east on Abigail Adams Avenue, north on 168th Street, west on the Grand Central Parkway service road and then south on 164th Place. They did it in bright sunshine, unseasonable cold, pouring rain and deafening thunderstorms.
The unique event was founded by Sri Chinmoy, a 71-year-old spiritual instructor and meditation guide who lives in Jamaica. In addition to leading his disciples in their search for inner harmony, Chinmoy sketches, writes songs in Bengali and English and performs feats of athletic prowess and physical strength, according to his biography.
In the race's first year, 1996, participants traveled only 2,700 miles. Every year since the distance has been 3,100 – an homage to the year of Chinmoy's birth, 1931.
All the participants this year were disciples of Chinmoy and some have adopted Indian names as part of their spiritual studies. Although the race is open to anyone, participants said without the mental focus and discipline brought about by Chinmoy's teachings, success would be all but impossible.
“It helps you concentrate your mind, so you can focus your attention on the job at hand,” said Sanatan Kurchack, one of the 30-odd volunteers who pour drinks, host the participants, secure the race area, prepare vegetarian meals and keep track of the participants' times. “You can be in touch with that highest truth.”
“Forty-eight, Matt!” he called out as Matt Boulton, a 27-year old Australian attempting his first-ever race of this kind, strode by the small desk that marks the start and end of each lap. It was Boulton's 48th trip by the desk in the past nine hours.
Suprabha Beckjord, a 47-year-old gift shop proprietor from Washington, D.C. and the race's only female participant, followed close behind. Throughout nearly two months of a torturous regimen that tore up 14 pairs of sneakers and gave her only four hours of sleep each night, she said she never thought she might fail.
“Instead of trying to focus in my mind, I try to focus in my heart,” she said, explaining that the mind is too analytical to provide the sort of big-picture focus the race requires. Even paying too much attention to honking cars, the feel of the pavement or the shouting of children playing was enough to throw off her concentration.
The cost of sneakers – at least $700, if one figures on $50 per pair – is just a small sacrifice compared with the massive time commitment necessary for the mammoth race. Cherns, a massage therapist who owns his own business, was able to put his work on hold for two months. Beckjord left her store in the care of two employees.
Like any massive undertaking, the Self-Transcendence Race leaves its participants a bit bewildered when they finish and return to “normal” life.
Beckjord asked Namitabha Arsic, who already completed the race, if he had trouble adjusting from the life circling Joseph Austin Playground to the life of jobs, bills, television and everyday existence.
“I said, 'Namitabha, which world is the real world?'” she recalled.
Reach reporter Alex Ginsberg by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
