1979 24-Hour Pepsi-Cola Bicycle Marathon
Sri Chinmoy led a 215-member team in this third 24-hour bicycle marathon held over the Memorial Day weekend in Central Park.In the women's event, Pragati came in second with 295 miles and Nilima came third with 270 miles. In the men's event, Arpan came third with 365 miles.
Sri Chinmoy completed 160 miles. His focus was now on long distance running which he had commenced on June 1st, 1978. In his first marathon on March 3rd, 1979, in Chico, California, his timing was 4:31:34. Just three weeks later, on March 25th, he ran his second marathon in Toledo, Ohio. Running at an 8:58 pace, he broke four hours to record a time of 3:55:07.
In the Long Island Marathon on May 6th, his time was 4:16:23 and on May 12th, in Plattsburg, New York, his time was 4:41:16. Sri Chinmoy raced a total of seven marathons during the first nine months of his marathon running.
But the days of cycling were not quite over. On June 21st, Sri Chinmoy's students embarked on a 1,500-mile bicycle relay to honour Sri Chinmoy's fifteen years in America. The "Empire State Bicycle Relay" covered the length and breadth of New York State. Sri Chinmoy composed the six cycling songs in this book in honour of that event.
