Sri Chinmoy, whose vision of running and sports as a means of self-discovery led to the founding of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, passed away on the 11th of October 2007. He was 76 years old. A formidable sprinter in his youth, and a prolific marathoner and ultramarathoner in his forties and fifties, Sri Chinmoy will probably most be remembered in the running world for his founding of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, and his guidance of the Team into the world's largest organiser of endurance events.

From its humble beginnings with a 10 mile race in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1977, the team soon moved into organising ultradistance races, holding a 47 mile race one year later and its first 24 hour races two years after that. Sri Chinmoy had tremendous faith in human capacity, and often he would inspire the Marathon Team to participate in and organise events which pushed the envelope in terms of what was considered humanly possible. The most outstanding example of this is the inauguration in 1997 of the 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race, which to this day remains the world's longest certified road race.

Sri Chinmoy's life was one of service to anyone he met, and this was reflected in the level of care and attention given to the runners in any of the races organised by the Marathon Team. Right from the very first race, there were split times and refreshments every mile. As the Team moved into organising ultrarunning races, the level of attention given to runners' needs influenced the standard of care in the ultrarunning world in general. Throughout the years the team has received numerous plaudits for its races, and have branched out into other disciplines such as swimming, triathlons and even skiing!

Another aspect of Sri Chinmoy's contribution that cannot be overlooked is the loving inspiration and guidance he gave to the members of the Marathon Team as they attempted to embark on formidable challenges. In addition to running, over forty swims of the English Channel have been accomplished by members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, the most. Ashrita Furman, holder of more Guinness Records than anyone else on earth, credits Sri Chinmoy for the inspiration to begin breaking records in the first place, and also for each record he has broken over the last 30 years. Indeed, the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team hosts an 'Impossibility-Challenger' event near Munich, Germany where aspiring Guinness record breakers from all around the world come to try and set a new world best in their event.

Sri Chinmoy also saw how running could be used to promote harmony and unity between people and nations. In 1987, he founded the World Harmony Run, a global torch relay which travels to over 70 countries around the world. Along their journey, the runners carry an Olympic style torch which is passed from hand to hand along the route, linking communities and countries together.

Sri Chinmoy's years of dedicated service to the running world would be enough to fill up many pages, and yet running and sports was just one facet of his tireless work to raise humanity's awareness of what is truly possible if we would cast aside the limitations of the mind and act from the source of our being. He believed every human talent had a role to play in creating a more inspired and harmonious world, and he sought to demonstrate this through his own personal example. Over the years he wrote vast amounts of poetry, published over 1500 books, composed songs and painted many pieces of mystical art. To Sri Chinmoy, all of this activity found its root in one source, the inner peace and vastness of the human soul. "The outer life, the outer movement, can be successful only when it comes from the inner poise", he wrote in his book, the Outer Running and the Inner Running. "If there is no poise, then there can be no successful outer movement. Poise is an unseen power, and this unseen power is always ready to come to the aid of the outer runner."

Sri Chinmoy may have departed this world, but his service to the running community will carry on through the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and the World Harmony Run. The visionary is gone, but the vision still remains.