ULTRA-ENDURANCE athlete William Goodge says he has broken a world record, running across the width of Australia in 35 days.
With a 2,631-mile route from remote Perth in Western Australia to Sydney’s iconic , the runner claims to have run at a pace of more than two marathons per day.
Who is William Goodge?
Originally from Ampthill, Bedfordshire, 31-year-old William Goodge had already amassed an impressive résumé of long-distance runs around the world before taking on the dash down under.
His highlights have included a run through The Sahara Desert, completing a marathon in every English county over a 30-day period, running the 104 miles around Lake Como in 24 hours, and crossing the 3,175 miles from Los Angeles to New York in just 55 days.
In addition to ultramarathons and running across countries, William is also a male model signed by the prestigious Wilhemina agency, and previously played .
However, his passion for long-distance runs was born through a personal tragedy.
William first started training for marathons to cope with the loss of his mother to cancer in 2018.
Now, he makes his record-breaking journeys in her honour, and to fundraise for the cause.
“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 shared with 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.”;;
The record-breaking run route
William’s run across Australia was no easy feat.
Starting at Cottesloe Beach in Perth on April 15 and finishing along Bondi Beach on May 19, William’s route brought him through the country’s remote wilderness.
Although he has a love for desert runs and celebrated his 31st birthday on this one, William told the BBC his first nine-days through Western and South Australia’s desert – the Nullabor Plain – were especially challenging.
“It was full-on from start to finish,”;; he said.
Throughout his journey, he faced painful experiences ranging from rotting feet and fallen-off toenails to bone aches and hallucinations from sleep deprivation.
“I wasn’t sleeping at night and I had deep pain in my bones and things like hip flexors,”;; William said to The Guardian.
“Mentally I was tossing and turning throughout the night, hallucinating a little bit, which isn’t that fun.”;;
After over a month of pushing his physical and mental strength to the limit, he met his father at the finish line in Bondi Beach and laid down a bouquet of lilies in honour of his mother.
“I feel like I’ve turned what is pain into a powerful story, or the tagline I like to use is ‘emotion equals energy’,”;; he said in an interview with The West Australian.
“If you can channel it towards something, and it doesn’t have to be physical, it’s a pretty full well from which to pull water and fuel.”;;
William also shared his warm-up for the journey with The West Australian: an over-500km run from Tokyo to Osaka in .
If his claim is verified by , he’ll have beaten the current record holder, Australia’s very own Chris Turnbull, by a full four days.
