Left: Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche runs the Toronto Marathon, November 2003.

Top photo by Marvin Ross.

Big Sur results for Surmang

April 27, 2004

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche completed the Big Sur marathon on Sunday 25 April in three hours, twenty-one minutes and seventeen seconds. Despite the remarkable terrain, Rinpoche's time exceeded his first marathon result last fall in Toronto where he placed in the top thirteen percent of all finishers. He finished in the top four percent of all runners at Big Sur.

A full report from Jon Pratt has been posted on the Shambhala website. You can also find an article by one of Rinpoche's trainers.

Rinpoche's running team started at a pace of nine minutes a mile. As the crowd thinned out, they covered the middle section at seven minutes and thirty seconds a mile, before finishing the last series of hills at a pace of between six minutes and thirty-five seconds and seven minutes and ten seconds a mile.

The fundraising results for Surmang kept pace. By the end of Sunday, people throughout the mandala had donated (on line and in cheques) a total of US $24,797, equivalent to CAN $33,475.95. Donations are still welcome and can be made on this site.

This is a fantastic contribution to Surmang. It amounts to roughly a third of this year's initial construction costs for the Düdtsi-til shedra. Rinpoche has expressed his heartfelt appreciation for this tremendous surge of generosity.

(This announcement was from the Shambhala News Service)