1986 UN Peace Relay Run : Athletic Event + Self Transcendance Award July 12 – 13 - Historical Repository for Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

1986 UN Peace Relay Run : Athletic Event + Self Transcendance Award July 12 – 13

NEW YORK, NY-·Twenty United Nations staff members ran a 150 mile Peace Relay on July 12-13 in honor of the 1986 International Year of Peace.

The event Is one in a series 0f International relays. peace swims, solo runs, and race courses held or established In support of this special year by athletes from groups affiliatred with sports guru Sri Chinmoy.

The Peace run left UN headquarters at 6:30 a.m. It relayed a flaming torch In five mile segments up routes 9, 9A, and 9W (along the Hudson River and past West Point), arriving In Albany at 2 p.m. Sunday. There, the athletes officially opened the New York capital City’s annual lnternational Festival.

The Relay was co-sponsored by the New York State Office 0f General Services in cooperation with Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations. Like all the other sports events, It was held to … to bring peace … utilizing.lhe aspiration found In athletics.

“This world has everything but peace,” Sri Chinmoy says. “If each person had peace, this world would be different today. Because we don’t have peace, we are sometimes no better than animals.” When we have even an Iota of peace, he says, then we can serve as Instruments to bring peace to others.

At the Albany Festival’s opening ceremony, long distance runner Joe.Michaels, president of Cardiac Runners, received the first annual Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence trophy.

The award Is given to those members of the public who In their. own lives overcome great obstacles to Improve and perfect themselves and society.

Michaels, a Bayside, New York resident, Is 44 ‘years 0ld•. He suffered seven heart attacks and had a double-bypass operation, then gradually returned to a fully active life through the benefits of running. He began running Increasingly long distances-~the farthest so tar being 624 miles in a 1,000 mile race·-to p·rove to others “that almost any handicap may be overcome.• , Through his Cardiac Runner organization he counsels other heart attack victims on the benefits of athletics,· In presenting the award, Sri Chinmoy told the athlete, ~’The brave soul, In you is a tremendous source of Inspiration to all those who challenge death and all countless obstacles on the way to sell-perfection.~’ In honor of. these events. Mayor Whelan declared July 13 as Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence day in the state capital.