Asprihanal Aalto, the 36 year old courier from Helsinki, Finland, has shattered his own personal best to finish the 3100 Mile Race in a time of 41 days and 8 hours. At around 10 a.m on Monday morning, he crossed the finish line in front of a crowd of around 150 wellwishers, completing his seventh race, four of which he has won. Receiving his trophy, he was congratulated by all the other runners out there on the course, as well as by the race founder, Sri Chinmoy.

His time was the third fastest time in race history, behind the two record performances of Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk in 2002 and 2006. Asprihanal averaged 71 miles per day on his way to victory, and he ran over 70 miles on each of the the last 19 days of the race - almost three marathons a day.

Ayojan Stojanovich, from Nish in Serbia, is expected to finish in second place on Thursday, 46 days after the race started. Many of the other runners still on the course are making significant progress over their previous bests. Pranab Vladovic from Bratislava, Slovakia recovered from early stomach problems and is now in third place, and should also make it home on Thursday. The two newcomers still in the race are doing very well indeed - Grahak Cunningham from Perth Australia is currently in sixth place, averaging around 65 miles a day, whilst Petr Spacil, who won the 10-day Self-Transcendence Race in Flushing Meadows earlier this year is in ninth.