By Russell Adams

My first experience with the Endeavour Foundation 500km Summer Challenge was in 1999 when I was lucky enough to run with the “Bushrangers” team. This team consisted of runners who were far quicker than I was, so I was limited to the minimum number of runs allowed per runner. I was currently averaging 4:30min/km in my races but during the event this suddenly decreased to 4:15min/km. due to the “can’t let the team down” attitude.

Having experienced 3 days of the most incredible racing and experience of a lifetime I thought that I should share this experience with other members of Ashgrove Rangers Athletics Club who were quite young and not yet at the level expected of the top “Bushrangers” team. So in August 2000 I formed a second “Bushrangers” team consisting of the younger athletes and supplemented by friends and work mates with a mixture of recreational runners and ex-footballers. As there were now two “Bushrangers” teams, my team was given the name of “Russell’s Bushies” to differentiate between the two. We came seventh out of fourteen teams and you would have thought we came first as everyone cheered so loudly when we found out where we had come.

I have now been team manager of “Russell’s Bushies” for 8 years and have found it a most rewarding experience. Young athletes have matured and I have seen them grow and develop over the years. The composition of the team has changed and is mainly young athletes now with only a few older runners. Just watching them as the 500 approaches is a real experience. They get extremely excited and talk of nothing else. What I have done is set up the framework for them to have fun and compete within an excellent team environment. I emphasise participation and team members are encouraged to compete to the best of their ability. I don’t care what pace they run at as long as they are prepared to give their best. I don’t deliberately try to recruit faster runners and team composition only changes due to unavailability of current members (which does occur each year).

So what is the 500 all about? All teams are competing and doing their best. The top teams are obviously competing to win, but all teams are there to enjoy their running in one of the greatest events of the running calendar. Looking around over the 3 days you see runners of all ages and abilities but the common denominator is that we all like to compete and run. The event is also a learning experience. You learn a lot about yourself and your interaction within a team. You suddenly find your performance increases as the “team” spirit invades you. Over the years I have seen incredible performances from people who were not prepared to give in and fought hard and tough to the very end.

I would recommend the 500 to any runner who wants to experience one of the most incredible running events of their life.