A group of engineers from Cummins known as “Running Buddies” might be gluttons for punishment.
Last year, five runners completed a 150-mile relay race in the Chillocothe, Ohio area. While most of the 80 teams in that race had 10 runners to spread over the 150 miles, the Cummins group had just five runners.
Last month, the Running Buddies embarked on an even more ambitious adventure, Reebok Ragnar Road Great Midwest, a 200-mile relay race from Chicago to Madison, Wisconsin. While most of the 290 teams had 12 runners, the Running Buddies were one of only 11 that used just six runners.
“We feel very proud and fortunate to have a six-member team when there were only 11 of us (teams to do that),” Rajib Panda said. “It was hot, but it was very windy. It was hard to keep our pace.”
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Panda, along with Ganesh Badve, Shripad Deshpande, Venkatachalam Duraisamy, Jugander Kumar and Kaustubh Suyal, finished the 205 total miles in 30 hours, 50 minutes, 21 seconds. They came in 16th in the “unofficial” category.
Each runner ran six of the 36 legs, which ranged from 3.8 to 10.2 miles.
“We were running in the night, so we did our planning accordingly,” Deshpande said. “We made sure that not a single person is doing too much and gets tired, as compared to others. Everyone has an equal number of legs so that everyone will be fresh.”
The race began at 5 a.m. on a Friday morning on Lakeshore Drive along Lake Michigan in Chicago. The Running Buddies finished late the following afternoon in Madison.
The group booked a 15-seater van to follow the runners and to allow the five who weren’t running to rest.
“We literally lived in the van for two days,” Badve said. “The idea was, one guy would be on the road always, and three guys would rest. One guy would drive, and the next guy would be sitting next to the driver. We were all going in circles.”
At the end of one of his legs near New Berlin, Wisconsin, a police officer played a little joke on Duraisamy. They gave him a fake citation for running too fast.
“After I finished one of my legs, I was looking at these guys to pick up from that point to run another leg, and a cop was there, also,” Duraisamy said. “Then, they said, the finishing leg is this way, so I ran. Then, the cop gave me the speeding ticket.”
Near the end of the race, one or more teammates run with the designated runner to keep them going.
“One of the important things in this type of race is endurance, and what is most needed is the motivation,” Badve said. “So with ‘Buddy Run,’ the concept behind it was to reaching the last few legs, you’re tired because you’ve been running all night. Someone will run with you to motivate you.”
A big motivating factor for the group is the desire to help others. Ragnar, the race’s title sponsor supports, “Back On My Feet,” whose cause is to combat homelessness in 12 major cities in the United states, improve on housing resources and uplift the community by generating employment.
“It’s for a great cause,” Kumar said. “The dollars that we spend for the race is helping the community. This organization helps people who are homeless or need education or need food or housing. We wanted to make sure that we are, not directly helping, but indirectly helping people get that basic facilities like education and that kind of thing.”
The entry fees from last year’s 150-mile race went toward sponsoring each high school student in the Chillocothe area who wanted to participate in the Drug Free Clubs of America Program. Running Buddies also participated in such events as the Bop to the Top of OneAmerica Tower in Indianapolis in January and the Winter Trail Frosty Indianapolis in February.
The group has a Facebook page, “Running Buddies Columbus,IN”
“We do all different types of runs,” Badve said. “The main idea was to do something every year to help some other part of the country. Our hobby is, we all like running. That gives us a way to stay together and learn about different parts of this country. We had never been to this area of Wisconsin. It was a very scenic route.”
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Group: Running Buddies
Members: Ganesh Badve, Shripad Deshpande, Venkatachalam Duraisamy, Jugander Kumar, Rajib Panda and Kaustubh Suyal
Purpose: "We few running enthusiasts from Columbus, IN came together with a reason to building a group with a focus on health, community support and satisfaction," according to its Facebook page, "Running Buddies Columbus,IN"
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