46-Day Race

Serbian wins world's longest footrace

Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK -- Serbia-Montenegro's Srdjan Stojanovich won the world's longest ultra-marathon, becoming the fastest first-time performer in the nine-year history of the Self-Transcendence 3,100-mile race when it was declared finished on Sunday.

Stojanovich, a 42-year-old from Nish, finished the astonishing distance in 46 days, 10 hours, 51minutes, and 16 seconds, the third-best performance in history.

Not satisfied with the third-fastest time ever in the 4,960-kilometer event, he added an extra 13 laps of the 833-meter course in Queens, New York, in order to reach the ultra-runner's magical 5,000-km distance, for which he posted a time of 46 days 12 hours, 56min and 53sec.

Stojanovich finished the official 3,100-mile race distance three days ahead of his nearest rival, Finnish deliveryman Ashprihanal Aalto. Aalto had won the race for the third time in 2004.

Once again, Suprabha Beckjord, 49, was the lone woman runner. She finished on Sunday after 64 days four hours 23 minutes and 28 seconds.

Beckjord became the only person ever to finish the event nine times.

Over the years, the gift-shop owner has run 49,260 km on the course around a city park and high school in Queens.

The runners assemble at 6:00 a.m. each day and are allowed to keep going until midnight.

This year, 14 competitors started the event that is recognized by the International Association of Ultrarunners as the world's longest footrace. The 13 finishers are the most ever.