Latest news with #WilliamGoodge
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Brit who broke the record for running across Australia by FOUR DAYS faces claims he cheated - as critics raise questions over data gathered from his tracking device
British endurance runner William Goodge completed a remarkable feat earlier this month, crossing the vast, unforgiving expanse of Australia on foot in a record-breaking 35 days. From Perth to Sydney, the charismatic and sometimes combative athlete averaged over 100 kilometres per day through searing heat, rolling elevation and endless stretches of remote highway to smash the previous record by four whole days. It was a performance that, on the surface, seemed to cement his status among the elite in the already extreme world of ultrarunning. But well before Goodge reached the finish line at Bondi Beach, controversy was already swirling over whether the run should have been considered as a legitimate world record attempt in the first place. For years, Goodge's incredible feats of endurance have been scrutinised by fellow ultrarunners and sporting enthusiasts alike. At the heart of the debate are questions surrounding the validity of his performance data - heart rate readings that seem improbably low, instances of suspiciously high speed recorded on tracking platforms - and Goodge's apparent inability to replicate his stunning performances in races alongside other competitors. According to his critics, these anomalies hint at a record too good to be true, with Goodge lapping up plaudits from social media followers while enjoying royalties from a plethora of sponsors. But for his supporters, the anomalies can be put down to digital errors from unreliable GPS technology and wearable trackers - unfortunate discrepancies that distract from Goodge's admirable charitable endeavours and fundraising efforts. For Goodge himself, his controversial world record is the product of a journey born from a deeply personal place of grief. British ultra endurance runner William Goodge recently set a new world record as the fastest person to run across Australia, running from Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia to Bondi Beach in Sydney Who is William Goodge and why is he running ultramarathons? William Goodge, from Ampthill, Bedfordshire, was a model and semi-professional rugby player who turned to running as a coping mechanism following a family tragedy. William's mother, former nurse and committed charity fundraiser Amanda Goodge, succumbed to Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, in early 2018 at the age of 53. She had beaten the disease twice previously, but the cancer's eventual triumph left William and his father Graham devastated. 'Running helped me to deal with my demons,' he told the Mail. 'And I found I liked running on my own, because it helped my mind to process and deal with the things I faced. 'We went through a lot as a family. I thought that if I felt either good energy or bad energy, then either way, I could put it into running and it would help. 'If I felt bad, I would go on a run and by the end of it I'd feel slightly better. It became a coping mechanism and I'd be able to deal with the bad things for another day.' Goodge took part in his first major run on Christmas Day 2018, months after his mother's passing, when he ran a marathon around his home town Ampthill to raise £12,000 for Macmillan cancer, as well as the Primrose unit at Bedford Hospital where his mother was cared for. 'Growing up, mum was a nurse and she and her friends were all nurses too,' Goodge said. 'They would sponsor girls in Africa through their schooling, right through to them getting jobs... I wanted to carry on that legacy of fundraising for her. I wanted to do something she'd still like. That's why I'm so committed to raising money for charity.' The fundraising successes and catharsis derived from running propelled Goodge to a string of major athletic feats, and in turn, social media stardom and influencer status. He has taken on modelling projects, graced the front cover of Men's Health and taken on all manner of endurance challenges, including a West-to-East coast run of the United States known as the 'TransCon', and several ultramarathon races. But the runfluencer's latest scarcely believable feat Down Under has invited a torrent of speculation - and it's not the first time the authenticity of his achievements have been called into question. What are the claims against Goodge? The allegations that Goodge had cheated along the way to the finish line in Sydney earlier this month spring primarily from anomalous heart rate and pace data, the inaccuracy of his tracking methods, and inconsistencies with other performances. Critics say Goodge's average heart rate during his mammoth run was simply too low - and too consistent - to be true, especially when taking into account he was typically running more than 100 kilometres each day in extremely harsh conditions with regular elevation changes. Heart rate zones, often used by endurance athletes to measure output and tracked by platforms like Strava, are split into five levels of intensity. The easiest, Zone 1, sits at roughly 50 per cent of a person's maximum heart rate - a zone of minimal exertion where conversation comes easily and breathing stays relaxed. Zone 5, at the other end of the scale, is breached during intense efforts like sprinting that push the heart rate to its peak and leave little to no room for talking. According to Goodge's publicly available Strava data, he usually spent between 85-90% of his runs in Zone 1 - anything under 123 beats per minute (bpm) - including during segments where he was running uphill with negligible change to his pace. One example of this phenomenon came on May 16 - some 32 days into his cross-country expedition - when Goodge covered 109km in 13 hours, 49 minutes and 44 seconds - a pace of 7:37/km. Between kilometres 74 and 75, he set what was recorded by Strava as a 'Course Record' on a segment known as the Burley Griffin Way Climb - an 800 metre stretch of road with an elevation gain of 41 metres. Despite the rapid elevation gain - and with 74 kilometres in his legs that day alone - Goodge's Strava data showed his heart rate never got above Zone 1, even as he finished the segment in 7 minutes and 24 seconds - quicker than his overall average pace for the day. There were also shocking anomalies when it came to Goodge's speed. In an early run, Strava data showed Goodge clocked a 400 metre time of 23 seconds - a physically impossible feat some 20 seconds faster than the world record. Meanwhile, an analysis of the runner's In Reach data - another tracking service provided by tech company Garmin - by Running Magazine suggested there were brief moments in which Goodge was recorded moving at speeds in excess of 80kph. According to Goodge's publicly available Strava data, he usually spent between 85-90% of his runs in Zone 1 - anything under 123 beats per minute (bpm) - including during segments where he was running uphill with negligible change to his pace In an early run, Strava data showed Goodge clocked a 400 metre time of 23 seconds - a physically impossible feat some 20 seconds faster than the world record The allegations that Goodge had cheated along the way to the finish line in Sydney earlier this month spring primarily from anomalous heart rate and pace data, as well as the inaccuracy of his tracking methods The controversy around Goodge's run across Australia was swirling well before he crossed the finish line. That's because the runner has already faced an outpouring of criticism for his TransCon run across the United States in 2023. In that run, his heart rate and pace data appeared to offer up similar anomalies, leading a fellow British runner and author William Cockerell to openly accuse Goodge of cheating. So perturbed by Goodge's exploits was Cockerel that he flew to the US to join Goodge on part of his run. The meeting was brought to an abrupt end when the pair fell out, with Cockerel claiming Goodge threw a rock at his support car. The critic was unable to detect any anomalies with Goodge's data during their run together and was forced to admit that the Briton ran every step they were together. But he maintained that Goodge's tracking data began returning discrepancies again shortly after he departed. Critics have also asked why Goodge only tracked his run with a wrist-based heart monitor and GPS tracker, pointing out that chest-mounted straps are a far more reliable alternative for a world record. Besides the divisive performance data and tracking anomalies, the other main source of criticism is Goodge's relatively poor performance in official races when competing against other runners. Doubters say his fitness level and endurance capabilities suggest he should stack up well against the best ultramarathoners in the world, but in two world-renowned competitions he turned in less than stellar performances. In October, he placed 11th in the MOAB 240 - a 240-mile (368km) race in Utah, USA, and came in 174th place in the 2022 Marathon des Sables (257km) across the Sahara desert. There is no speculation over anomalous performance data in those races. The concern over Goodge's performances was summed up best by endurance expert and bestselling author Alex Hutchinson, who wrote: 'What's worrying is when the data is internally inconsistent: a given pace should correlate with a given heart rate reasonably well for any given person. 'Goodge's low heart rate while running insanely long distances isn't 'impossible', but it's highly unlikely - especially since he only seems to be able to do it when no one is watching.' What do his supporters say? Despite the questions over the veracity of his data and the suspicious fluctuations in Goodge's solo versus group race performances, the runner has a great many supporters. Chief among those are other ultramarathon runners, including the likes of Ned Brockmann - who in 2022 completed a similar route across Australia - and Chris Turnbull - the man who held the previous record for the Perth-to-Sydney course at 39 days. When asked whether Goodge's feat was physically possible, Turnbull - whose record was demolished by Goodge with four days to spare - told The Project: 'Absolutely, and he's done it. So I think that shows it. 'Very impressive performance from William Goodge - there's not many people that have done such a run like that. If he has done it authentically then I think I'd find it hard to live with myself if I didn't congratulate him. 'I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt and be a supporter.' Brockmann meanwhile wrote: 'Incredible my man. You deserve it all mate. 'What a feat of human endurance, thanks for the daily inspiration and reminding us all we can always do more!! King Goodge!' As regards the various allegations of cheating, Goodge's supporters have justly pointed out that watches and other tracking devices used to measure heart rate and pace are prone to inconsistencies and errors. Others have pointed out that the primary goal of Goodge's various exploits is to raise awareness and money for cancer research, mental health and other charitable endeavours - admirable achievements for a journey that at its core is fuelled by grief. His exploits have inspired people the world over - as evidenced by the torrent of well wishes and positive interactions Goodge has shared with social media users on each of his posts. How has Goodge responded to allegations of cheating? The majority of Goodge's responses to the criticism came in the form of unapologetic, brash and often expletive-laden posts shared to social media, primarily Instagram. In one Instagram Story, he was seen holding a cigarette and a beer with members of his support team with the caption: 'From all of us at the record down under team, to the nay sayers we sincerely say f*** you.' But he also spoke with ABC to brush off claims he had cheated. 'I knew it was gonna come. I was prepared for that and just, it comes with the territory. And you can't blame people for coming at you and questioning your stuff. Like, it's just part and parcel of it. 'Obviously we do everything we can, like, put the tracker up live so if anyone ever wanted to come and see us - and we had a lot of people that wanted to come out and run - just come and find us. 'But there's obviously a limit. I can't live stream the whole event. Maybe that would be something you could do in the future but being on roads like that as well, it's really tough.' He also made a reference to the speculation over his publicly available heart rate data and offered a brief, if vague, explanation. 'There's also just so many other aspects to this that you can't really consider all the time. 'Like, I'm running past roadkill and I'm putting something over my face, or a dust storm has come in, or a road train has come close to me, or I'm literally running along and I'm singing. 'So there's so many variables involved of why my heart rate might go up at a particular point, even though my pace is the same, or go down.'
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
William Goodge: Male model set a world record by running from Perth to Sydney in memory of his mum - but now a stunning detail has seen him accused of CHEATING
British model turned endurance athlete William Goodge celebrated when he completed his 3800km run from Perth to Sydney in just 35 days on May 19 - but now, not even a week later, he is mired in allegations that he cheated. The former semi-professional rugby player from Bedfordshire began his journey at Cottesloe Beach on April 15 and reached his target of slogging through some of Australia's most inhospitable country in just 35 days. The 31-year-old began running in 2018 to process his mother's cancer diagnosis, telling the Daily Mail that 'running helped me to deal with my demons'. Since that time, the popular endurance athlete has taken on many challenges, including becoming the fastest Englishman to run across the USA, raising thousands for cancer research in the process. He broke Australian runner Chris Turnbull's world record by four days after averaging more than 100km per day at about seven and a half minutes per kilometre. Ultra-endurance runners usually upload data from body-worn devices to show how they have progressed, and Goodge was no different on his incredible journey. The 31-year-old endurance athlete (pictured) averaged more than 100km a day on the journey He used a Garmin InReach satellite communicator and his location, speed and other metrics like heart rate were measured using the Strava exercise app. Strava users who examined his data during the run said Goodge ran 400 metres in just 23 seconds on April 16, the second day after he left Cottesloe. That compares to the current 400m men's world record of 43.03 seconds, set by South Africa's Wayde van Nierkerk at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Skeptics have picked up on that remarkable piece of data to back up their accusations against Goodge, but the data could also be unreliable or outright incorrect due to difficulties caused by sending the data from such a remote location. Canadian Running magazine noted that the heart rate data from Goodge's body-worn devices was frequently at 100 to 105 beats per minute, calling that 'shockingly low for 14+ hour days in a harsh climate'. Goodge has hit back at the allegations. 'I knew it was gonna come,' he told the ABC. 'I was prepared for that and just, it comes with the territory. And you can't blame people for coming at you and questioning your stuff. 'It's just part and parcel of it.' He added that he and his team made the record-setting run as transparent as possible by uploading the data and putting up a live tracker so anyone who wanted to come and watch him on the road could have done so at any time. Accusations like these are nothing new for Goodge. He has even tried to catch Goodge in the act of cheating by flying to the States to confront the athlete on his run from Los Angeles to New York in 2023, but he found no evidence. 'Yes, Goodge is a good-looking guy, and he's making a lot of money. But what appalls me is he is taking a lot of money away from the more deserving international athletes out there,' Cockerell told The Times. Other runners have also expressed skepticism, including well-known ultrarunner Rob Pope, who told The Times that he hopes Goodge's records are genuine, but his 'heart rate doesn't make sense'. William Cockerell, a veteran long-distance runner and sportswriter based in the UK, has spent years claiming that Goodge's stats are too good to be true and has accused him of 'watch muling' - a form of cheating where that involves sharing a GPS device between runners.
ABC News
20-05-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Why are some ultra runners questioning William Goodge's record-breaking trans-Australia run?
When William Goodge arrived at Bondi Beach on Monday afternoon, he did so as a record holder. Just 35 days earlier, the 31-year-old British runner had set off from Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia and traversed the 3,800 kilometres across the nation on foot. Goodge beat the previous record, set by Australian Chris Turnbull, by a whopping four days, regularly running around 110km per day. So why has such an incredible achievement raised questions among the tight-knit ultra-running community? Goodge is a 31-year-old ultra runner from Ampthill, 70km to the north of London in Bedfordshire, England. He is a former model and used to play semi-pro rugby for the Ampthill Rugby Club in the third tier of English rugby — and still has the physique to match — but gave up after he "got knocked out too many times". In 2018, his mother passed away from non-Hodgkins lymphoma and, amidst that grief, he turned to running. "Obviously she was such a special woman to me and the only reason I got into this stuff was because of her passing," Goodge told ABC Sport from Sydney, little over 24 hours after he completed his record run. "So it's really a celebration of who she was and what she instilled in me as a person. "No one truly dies unless you stop talking about them, so I know she was with me the whole time, pushing me along. "It was really nice at the end, a gentleman actually brought us out a bottle of port [when] we're in South Australia. and my mum would always have a glass of port after a rugby game, so yeah it was cool to do that and give her a little cheers and a nod. "And we laid some flowers down at Bondi Beach as well for her." Definitely not. Goodge's previous feats have included a 16-day, 1,350km run from John O'Groats in Scotland to Land's End along the length of the United Kingdom and, in 2021 he 48 marathons — one in each of England's counties — in just 30 days. In 2023 Goodge completed the TransCon, a 5,109km cross-country run across the United States from Huntington Beach, California, to New York in 55 days, making him the fastest Englishman to ever do so. The record, incidentally, is held by American Pete Kostelnick, who did it in a staggering 42 days and six hours. Goodge has also competed in the 257km Marathon des Sables across the Sahara Desert in 2022 and finished 11th at the Moab 240, a 240-mile (386km) ultra race in Utah. He has raised thousands of dollars for charity and has been fundraising for the Cancer Council of Australia, as well as the UK-based Macmillan Cancer Support and the American Cancer Society for this run. Before Goodge began his Transcontinental USA run in 2023, some ultra runners began to ask questions about his data, most vocally Englishman William Cockerell. Ultra running over these sorts of distances is almost entirely self-reporting. People take a GPS watch and run a particular distance and then submit their data for ratification to either the Guinness World Records or Fastest Known Time (FKT). Cockerell, a fellow runner and author, raised concerns over Goodge's heart rate data. Simply put, he believes Goodge's heart rate is too low for the distances he is running and that after an initial period where his heart rate does vary, it then stabilises. Cockerell even travelled out to America to observe Goodge's run in the USA, hoping to catch him "watch muling" — or swapping his official tracking watch between different runners while he has a rest. This sort of thing is not unheard of in ultra running record attempts but it is an allegation that Goodge denied strenuously, inviting Cockerell to observe him for as long as he wanted to. The pair ended up having an altercation on the side of the road — which was documented in an episode of his run on YouTube. It's not just Cockerell though. Rob Pope, another ultra runner, told The Times in April that although he hopes Goodge's records are legit, his "heart rate doesn't make sense". The suspicious among ultra running community are still pointing out issues from his recent Australia run. His run from April 16, day two of his challenge, has been flagged on Strava after users noted that he set a personal record of 23 seconds for 400m — that's 20 seconds faster than Wayde van Niekerk's world record on the track and is a speed of about 62 km/h — with his pace analysis recording that, for 42 seconds, he ran faster than 3:33 per km. Canadian Running Magazine has also observed his InReach data recording movement at speeds exceeding 80 km/h. These blips in the data can be easily explained away by transmission errors in what is a very remote part of the country, but it certainly adds fuel to the doubters. Conscious of the doubters, Goodge tracked his run by Garmin InReach and on Strava, which records his position and his basic stats, like speed and heart rate. "I knew it was gonna come," Goodge told ABC Sport in regard to the sceptics. "I was prepared for that and just, it comes with the territory. And you can't blame people for coming at you and questioning your stuff. Like, it's just part and parcel of it. "Like, we're out in the middle of nowhere running all day. It's not like you can see me on TV. "Obviously we do everything we can, like, put the tracker up live so if anyone ever wanted to come and see us — and we had a lot of people that wanted to come out and run — just come and find us. So yeah, you do everything you can, "But there's obviously like a limit. I can't live stream the whole event. Maybe that would be something you could do in the future but being on roads like that as well, it's just like it's really tough. It's tough to be able to even think about like having a car near me because it's too dangerous." This is true. And just as when Cockerel came out to watch him run, he found no evidence of any wrongdoing whatsoever. "I've done everything I've ever said I've done," Goodge told the Australian Financial Review (AFR) before his run. "But I appreciate that there is a higher burden of proof when you say you're going for an actual record." It is, and one he's understandably very proud of and one he felt was important to add another level to his fundraising. "It was really important," Goodge told ABC Sport. "All the other events have obviously been impressive and I've had to give everything to them — even though I do maintain this is the hardest thing I've ever done, just because of the the scope of it and not having like any room for error. "But it was something for me … maybe it's for my ego, but I've been in this game, what, six years since I did my first challenge? And I feel like it's time for me to step up. "Like, I get a lot of stuff in media talking about my modelling stuff and former rugby player, and that's cool, but that's not who I am, right? "It's like, the main thing I do is I'm an ultra endurance athlete, and not a normal one by any stretch, but that's how I want to be presented. "So yeah, it's a cool one to achieve for me." Goodge's heart rate data comes from a wrist-worn device — research papers say that these devices only have a moderate degree of accuracy. He told the AFR that he always tries to run in Zone 1 or Zone 2 — and that is born out in his data, available publicly on Strava. There are five heart rate zones, with Zone 1 rated as Endurance for low heart rates, all the way up to Zone 5, for Anaerobic activities where your heart rate goes very high — think walking as endurance and sprinting as anaerobic. Zone 1 is the lowest intensity training zone and is characterised by being about 50 per cent of your maximum heart rate, so you can easily talk and breathe while doing exercise. It's different for everyone but, according to Strava, for Goodge it's anything below 123 beats per minute. Zone 2 is a relatively common state of training for endurance athletes and where a lot of training takes place and, for Goodge, is anything between 123 and 153 beats per minute. Let's take a typical day in the middle of Goodge's run, May 11, where he ran 112km in 13 hours, 15 minutes, at an average pace of 7 minutes and 6 seconds per kilometre. His highest recorded heart rate was 156 beats per minute, but his average was 104bpm. Incredibly, 92 per cent of his run took place with his heart rate in Zone 1, with eight per cent in Zone 2. When Australian endurance runner Nedd Brockmann did his trans-Australia run, he tended to run more in Zone 2 — while running across similar terrain around the flat country of Kimba in South Australia, Goodge ran 110km at 7:55 per km with an average of 101bpm, 93 per cent in Zone 1, while Brockmann ran 102km at 5:42 pace with an average heart rate of 130bpm, 85 per cent of which was in Zone 2. There were days when there were similarities though. Both men ran similar distances late in their attempts, from near Yass to Goulburn in New South Wales which, according to the Strava data, took place in similar conditions, clear and 6C. Brockmann ran 106km in 11 hours and 25 minutes at an average pace of 6:28 per km, with an average heart rate of 114bpm, 73 per cent of which was in Zone 1. Goodge ran 113km in 14 hours and 40 minutes at 7:47 per km, averaging 110bpm with 81 per cent in Zone 1. "The thing is, I don't really look at it, but on day one, it [my heart rate] is probably going to be higher because I can push more," Goodge said in response to the criticism. "But it gets to a point where your legs are so bad you can't really go very fast. "I've done so much of this — like, my foundational training and all the events I've done, challenges — meaning that I can just ride out and I'm very much [running at] a conversational pace. "But there's also just so many other aspects to this that you can't really consider all the time. "Like, I'm running past roadkill and I'm putting something over my face, or a dust storm has come in, or a road train has come close to me, or I'm literally running along and I'm singing. "So there's so many variables involved of why my heart rate might go up at a particular point, even though my pace is the same, or go down. "Also, I'm running slowly. "Like, really slowly … it's not sustainable to try and push that hard for that long, so I have to keep, basically, a steady effort the whole time." By their very nature, endurance events are somewhat difficult to ratify outside of the competitor's honesty. Distance running has always had this issue, right from the early days of the Olympic Marathon in St Louis in 1904, when American runner Fred Lorz was disqualified after getting a lift for the majority of the race. With ever more demanding events over longer and longer distances outside of ratified events, self-reporting is vital. Goodge has not shied away from confronting those who are doubting the authenticity of his feats head on. "If it's fight or flight, I'm a fight kind of guy," Goodge said when asked about his somewhat brash social media response to critics. "Today's effort is rage," he wrote on Instagram on April 28, to give an example. "Keep talking motherf******, keep adding fuel to the fire and I'll make it even more unbelievable." Another post, this one on his Instagram story, showed Goodge relaxing with his crew, nursing a beer and a cigarette, with the caption: "And from all of us at the record down under team, to the nay sayers we sincerely say f*** you." There's no doubt that Goodge is not the average endurance runner. Not many men who pound the pavement have a modelling contract. Neither do they have a beer and a cigarette after a long day pounding the pavement. "I didn't do it every night," Goodge said. "And also, the calories I'm consuming and stuff like the alcohol and the carbs will just get going me and get out the other end. "[American ultra runner] Robbie [Ballinger] had a really interesting rule that we kind of took on which is always one beer, sometimes two, never three. "But yeah, if there is an element of just like getting into some kind of normality after finish. And like sitting down and having dinner with the crew is a big one for me … it brings the level down and doesn't make it such a absolutely horrendous experience." But maybe it's not that at all. Maybe it's just the extra attention. "It's almost, kind of like the fear of the unknown," Goodge said about why there is criticism directed towards him. "And I can understand why as like, a traditional runner in the sport, especially one that's like pretty underfunded. "It's traditionally [a sport full of] people that just want to go and do some crazy stuff and there's never been brands that have been that interested in it. "And then obviously someone like me comes along and I'm fortunate enough to have been in this social media world, not through any like real trying. I just would share what I was doing online, and fortunately, it's obviously picked up and I get a lot of messages from people saying that they've seen what I've done and it's helped them go through something. "Everything I'm doing is trying to be positive. "But yeah, I can understand why they see it as unfair, so I'm aware of that. "And just the way I do stuff, I'm quite brash, I'll say it as it is, I show the other sides of my life. "And yeah, it might rub people up the wrong way, and that's fine. It's a small percentage of people." It should be stressed that those doubting Goodge are in the minority. Goodge credits ultra-runner Robbie Ballinger as being a key source of advice in his career, such as helping him switch styles of trainers so his feet don't get battered in the exact same position mile after mile. He also made special mention of Aussie runners Chris Turnbull and Nedd Brockmann on his website. "The beautiful thing about ultra in general is we help our fellow competitors," Goodge wrote. Brockmann, who did his own trans-Australia run in 46 days was one of the first to congratulate Goodge upon him finishing his run. "Incredible my man," he wrote. "You deserve it all mate. What a feat of human endurance, thanks for the daily inspiration and reminding us all we can always do more!! King Goodge!"
CTV News
20-05-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Briton runs across Australia in 35 days to smash record
Athlete William Goodge is seen in this photo posted to Instagram on Monday, May 19, 2025. (Source: Instagram / williamgoodge) Sydney, Australia — A British athlete says he has set a new world record for running across Australia, notching up the equivalent of 90 marathons in 35 days. William Goodge started his 3,860 kilometre (2,400 mile) effort in Western Australia on April 15, trekking through desert, farmland and forest before finishing at Sydney's famed Bondi beach on Monday. Averaging about two-and-a-half marathons each day, the English-born endurance runner smashed the previous record of 39 days set in 2023. 'It was like a revolving nightmare that wouldn't end,' the 30-year-old told the Sydney Morning Herald. 'The first nine days were extremely challenging. 'But you have to tell your body and mind that even though you're struggling, you're going to persevere and you're going to get through it.' Goodge, who ran across the United States in 2023, uses his feats to raise money for charity after his mother died of cancer in 2018. AFP
Asharq Al-Awsat
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Briton Runs Across Australia in 35 Days to Smash Record
A British athlete says he has set a new world record for running across Australia, notching up the equivalent of 90 marathons in 35 days. William Goodge started his 3,860-kilometer (2,400 mile) effort in Western Australia on April 15, trekking through desert, farmland and forest before finishing at Sydney's famed Bondi beach on Monday. Averaging about two-and-a-half marathons each day, the English-born endurance runner smashed the previous record of 39 days set in 2023. "It was like a revolving nightmare that wouldn't end," the 30-year-old told the Sydney Morning Herald. "The first nine days were extremely challenging. "But you have to tell your body and mind that even though you're struggling, you're going to persevere and you're going to get through it." Goodge, who ran across the United States in 2023, uses his feats to raise money for charity after his mother died of cancer in 2018.
