I'm Jim, a 60-year-old Aussie obstacle and endurance event racer from Sydney. Known by most people simply as 'Bull', I am raising funds to assist with the costs of travel to compete at the 2025 Spartan Summer Death Race in Pittsfield, Vermont (USA) in mid-June. With the costs of international travel, accommodation and internal travel, plus the costs of entry and the mandatory equipment, attendance at little-known international events like this is often out of the reach of mainstream Australians.

The Spartan Death Race is considered one of the hardest endurance events across the globe to finish, and attaining the coveted 'skull' has only been achieved by less than a handful of people each year. Spanning a continuous period of 56 to 72 hours in the Green Mountains and Bloodroot Mountain around Pittsfield, race directors throw challenges and tasks at the competitors, ranging from mind-numbingly boring and tedious tasks through to heavy carries, heavy farm work, math quizzes, logic puzzles and critical thinking outside of the box (and the list goes on) ... all designed for you to decide to just 'QUIT NOW!'. Generally, competitors are only given a date and time to turn up for registration to the race, yet the ACTUAL start date and time is not given, nor is the specific finish time or even a finish line provided.

I attended my first Summer Death Race in June 2015, following my first DNF (Did Not Finish) at the Mt Killington Spartan Ultra in 2014. The 2014 DNF hit me hard, and I couldn't shake off the funk ... until a mate asked me to enter the Death Race with him, and we could break our DNF funk together. This is when it really hit me ... we don't grow until we have failed, and we need to do hard things to succeed. I started to understand that failure was not bad, as long as we could learn the lessons from our failures and strive to be better the next time. This is why I care so much now about pushing boundaries and trying things most people just call 'crazy' ... if I can inspire just one person to say 'because of you I didn't give up', then I consider that a win!

This race is not about winning over other competitors, it is about beating yourself and not quitting when you think you are done ... it is about perseverance and mind, just as much as it is about stamina and strength. Having now attended the 2025 Winter Death Race held this past January, also in Pittsfield, I witnessed first hand the strength of human endurance as I and the other competitors started in -20 °c temperatures and heavy snowfall and battled the freezing elements and submerged natural and man-made challenges through 3 demanding days, to experience the first Black Event. No finishers at the gruelling event this year were awarded skulls, showing that 'finishing' does not necessarily equal 'winning'! Yet every competitor left the event a better person, having pushed themselves further and harder than they ever thought was possible, having seen hardships and learned lessons that are so rarely seen in today's society.

I started this campaign initially just to take and support a team of Australians across to the USA to compete in this year's Death Race ... yet I cannot break the hypnotic pull of once again attempting to push my own personal boundaries to achieve the coveted skull. So I am yet again registered for this event as the 1st Aussie to attend both Summer and Winter Death Races. I plan to fly into New York in mid-June and have booked shared accommodation near the event site in Vermont. While a 2-week stint in the USA representing my country as an athlete is not where I saw myself at this stage in my life, as life has taken me on this path, I will rise to the call of the adventure. I don't want to regret not attempting things in this life, and if I want to inspire others, I need to take these roads less-travelled and show others the adventure!

I'm loud, proud and stand out from the crowd ... and want more Aussies to look and say "jeez, if that old fart can do it, then I bloody well can too!" I would be extremely honoured to receive any contributions to assist with this adventure and to be able to continue sharing the adventure with others.