Sri Chinmoy founded the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in 1977 as a service to the running community and to help promote spiritual growth through sports.

Sri Chinmoy was born in East Bengal, India (now Bangladesh) in 1931. A talented and accomplished athlete in his youth, Sri Chinmoy was for 16 years the top-ranked sprinter and twice the decathlon champion in the spiritual community where he grew up. An all-round sportsman, he also excelled in soccer, volleyball and table tennis.

Since making his home in America in 1964 Sri Chinmoy, an avid sports enthusiast, continues to place emphasis upon the spiritual benefits of physical fitness - particularly running. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was an active long distance runner, completing 22 marathons and 5 ultras.

Over the years, the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team has become the world's largest sponsor of ultra-distance running and a major organiser of road races, marathons,triathlons,multi-sport events, long-distance swimming events and Master's track-and-field meets. It has hosted several national championships, and numerous world records have been set in its races.

In the early years of the "running boom," these events established standards and levels of service to participants that have now become commonplace: regular drink stations, post-race food and prizes right up the age groups to 70+ years.

Sri Chinmoy has written and lectured extensively on the subject of running and training, and has answered hundred of questions on the importance of sports and physical fitness as avenues for spiritual growth.

               "What gives life its value,

                  If not its constant cry,

               For self-transcendence?"

                                  ~Sri Chinmoy