Ultra-endurance athlete William Goodge starts new record by running across Australia in 35 days

Ultra-endurance athlete William Goodge has broken the world record for running across Australia in just 35 days. 

The athlete was motivated by his mother’s fight with cancer and was supported by his father throughout the journey. Having a great support system, Goodge crossed the finish line in Sydney minutes after four in the afternoon, officially setting a new Guinness World Record. 

Over more than one month, the athlete ran the same distance as about two-and-a-half marathons every day. 

In a social media post, Goodge shared: “The fastest human ever to run across Australia.
Perth to Sydney – 3,841.4km, 91 marathons, 35 days.”

Netizens commented on the post and said: “Wow! Congratulations and well deserved. 🔥🔥🔥”, “Absolutely amazing. Such an inspiration”, “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! 🚀”, and “Never in doubt 🐐 🤍”

Goodge’s journey 

Goodge broke the previous record set by Chris Turnbull in 2023, where he completed the 3,800km run across Australia in 39 days. He began his run on April 15 at Cottesloe Beach in Perth, with an average of over 100 kilometres a day and with a steady pace of approximately 7.5 minutes per kilometer. 

The athlete previously told AAP: “It’s obviously been quite the journey … we start before the sun comes up and finish when the sun’s gone down…I’ve seen every one of your famous animals, other than sharks and crocodiles, but unfortunately, a lot of them have been dead on the side of the road.”

At the finish line, William Goodge was handed a bouquet of flowers, which he gently placed at the shoreline of the beach as a tribute to his late mother, Amanda, who passed away from cancer in 2018. Throughout his run, he also raised funds for the Cancer Council of Australia in honour of his late mother.

He expressed: “She was the most special person in my life … she passed away seven-and-a-half years ago to cancer.” 

“She would be proud of everything I’ve done. She’d also be concerned,” he added. 

The athlete also shared about his experience and remarked: “The first nine days trying to sort of acclimatise to what I was doing was a big challenge… I wasn’t sleeping at night, and I had deep pain in my bones and things like hip flexors … and mentally I was tossing and turning throughout the night, hallucinating a little bit, which isn’t that fun.”

Goodge also shared that he had multiple injuries, including a toenail falling off and a toe that’s “been rotting for the past probably a week”.

He said, “Ironically, the knees have felt OK. They’ve been very solid.”