British endurance athlete William Goodge has become the fastest person ever to run across the width of Australia, clocking in at an eye-watering 35 days.
Goodge, 31, set off from Cottesloe Beach in Perth on 15 April and reached Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach just over a month later, having covered roughly 3,800km (or 2,361 miles).
In doing so, he beat the previous record held by Aussie runner Chris Turnbull — and didn’t just shave it, but took four full days off the time.
To get it done, he ran the equivalent of two and a half marathons every single day, dealing with everything from foot rot and lost toenails to sleep-deprived hallucinations and a rogue dust storm.
The record is still awaiting official confirmation from Guinness World Records, but with GPS tracking via Garmin InReach and Strava, it’s expected to be a done deal.
It also puts Goodge ahead of Australian electrician Nedd Brockmann, who became a national hero in 2022 for completing the same coast-to-coast route in 47 days, raising millions for charity in the process.
“This will take some time to process,” he said. “Right now, I’m just feeling incredibly grateful — to the team, to everyone we met, and to the land and spirit of Australia.”
William Goodge: Running on Emotion
William Goodge turned to endurance challenges following the death of his mum, Amanda, to cancer in 2018. All of his feats since have been in her honour — and he brought his dad along for the final stretch of this one.
The two embraced on the sand as Goodge laid flowers at the shoreline in her memory.
Hundreds of people joined him for the final leg, pounding the pavement to see him through to the finish.
“I quickly found running was a way for me to deal with that emotional pain, and I took it to an extreme quite quickly after that,” he told The West Australian.
“When times get tough — which is quite frequent — I’ll think of her, and other people who are fighting for their lives who haven’t chosen to be in that position. I’ve chosen to be in the position I’m in, so I feel like I don’t have a valid excuse to stop.”
So, Who Is William Goodge?
Born in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, William Goodge doesn’t come from a traditional ultra background. A former model and semi-pro rugby player, he switched lanes after a series of head injuries forced him out of the sport.
What followed was a string of brutal running feats. He’s previously ticked off a 1,350km run from John O’Groats to Land’s End in just over two weeks, and in 2021, ran 48 marathons — one in each English county — in 30 days.
In 2023, he attempted the 3,000-mile run from LA to New York, completing it in 55 days — the fastest by any Brit — though some way off the world record, currently held by Pete Kostelnick (42 days, 6 hours).
Before tackling the Aussie outback, he “warmed up” with a 500km slog from Osaka to Tokyo in five days.
Safe to say, he’s got legs.
Not Without Controversy
Despite his charitable efforts and open tracking data, William Goodge hasn’t escaped criticism — particularly from within the ultra-running community.
Most notably, British runner and stats obsessive William Cockerell flew to the US during Goodge’s TransCon to try and prove he was cheating — accusing him of “watch muling”, or swapping tracking devices with teammates.
His evidence? Goodge’s heart rate seemed to be out of sync with his running patterns.
The pair had a very public falling out, but Cockerell returned to the UK empty-handed.
Speaking to ABC Sport after completing the Aussie run, Goodge said he expected the questions.
“I knew it was gonna come,” he said.
“I was prepared for that — 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. So yeah, you do everything you can.
“But there’s obviously a limit. I can’t livestream the whole event. Maybe that’s something you could do in future — but being on roads like that as well, it’s really tough.
“It’s tough to even think about having a car near me because it’s too dangerous.”
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