The new women’s record for the world’s hardest run was rewritten by a Slovak, 47-year-old Kaneenika Janáková from Bratislava. After 48 days, 14 hours, 24 minutes and 10 seconds she reached the finish of the longest and the hardest run in the world – 3,100 miles (4,988 kilometres) in New York. She beat the world record by more than 17 hours. In the final ranking, she ended up in second place behind runner Vasu Duzhiy from Russia. He won the 21st Annual Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race, finishing the run in 47 days +05:39:00.
"In the 21-year history of the race, 41 runners have finished the ultra-marathon in the limit of 52 days – among them six Slovaks who completed this difficult race 22 times," said Kanala Bolvanská, PR manager of Kaneenika Janáková. "This makes Slovakia the most successful country, before Ukraine, with 21 completed runs," she added.
Ten runners started the 21st year of the 3,100-mile-long run. Every day, they had to run at least 96 kilometres in order to reach the time limit of 52 days. Janáková daily ran more than 102 kilometres. Every morning at 6.00 a.m., they had to stand at the start in Queens of New York City for the following 18 hours, until midnight, they circled a 800 metre long circuit around the Thomas Edison High School, Dobré Noviny reported.
In 20 years of her running career, Janáková attended 15 several-day runs and 32 ultra-runs. She is also a holder of many Slovak records up to 6 days. Her best result for a 6-day run is 713 kilometres and for a 10-day run is 1170 kilometres. During 15 days and 19 hours, she was able to run 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometres), Dobré Noviny stated.
The conditions were extreme: heat waves around 35 Celsius degrees with high humidity, rain, wind and lack of sleep make this race the hardest in the world.
The race is organized by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. This organization was founded in 1977 by peace philosopher and sportsman Sri Chinmoy. The organization organizes running event also in Slovakia, Dobré Noviny stated.
