Army veteran smashes Goggins Challenge at Mackay F45 fundraiser

A former British army veteran turned F45 fitness enthusiast pushed through sleep deprivation to run 100 miles in two days, taking just 20-minute naps between each leg of his extraordinary challenge.

Twenty members from across the F45 studios in Mackay took part in the Goggin's Challenge, with many other members joining in for one or more of the runs.

When British army veteran Sean Calver first heard about the Goggins Challenge at his local F45 gym, it was a no-brainer he would take part.
Money raised was going to Mackay Women’s Services and the 54-year-old had a close family member who had been personally impacted by domestic violence, so the cause was close to his heart.

“I was always going to jump in and do something with the Goggins Challenge,” he said.

But he decided to go one step further – instead of running what equates to 48 miles (about 77km) in 48 hours he decided to double it, and then some, making the total distance 164km (just over 100 miles).

The David Goggins 4x4x48 Challenge is a gruelling fitness gauntlet created by the US ultrarunner and former Navy Seal, where participants run four miles every four hours for 48 hours, pushing through sleep deprivation and physical fatigue.

“I looked at that and thought I probably could push a little more than that … create a bit more awareness and make it a bit more of a challenge,” Sean said.
“I looked at it and went I could do double that, looked at it again and went hang on a minute, I can go a little bit better again (and) make it the 100 miles.”

British army veteran Sean Calver ran 164km in 48 hours with a crew from F45 Mackay who were completing the David Goggins Challenge to raise money for Mackay Women's Service.

Instead of four-hourly runs, he was taking off every two hours – sleeping about 15 to 20 minutes after every run.
“I was very very strict. As soon as I came back in … a bit of water, a bit of food, get out of my wet gear … and then sleep,” he said.
When asked how he trained for this type of endeavour, Sean said, “I haven’t done anything really additional it’s just determination really.”

Sean said it was a cause close to his heart to he decided to up the ante and double the distance plus some to make it just over 100 miles.

He is a regular F45 attendee and on weekends he said he ran 17-20km with a few others – he also had 24 years with the British army before moving to Australia about 14 years ago.

‘We all know what he was doing it for’

Owner of three F45 studios across Mackay and Emerald Lee Renshaw and his son Koby Renshaw.

The challenge, which took place in late August out of Lee and Kim Renshaw’s F45 Training Mackay City base, ran from Friday to Sunday, and Sean said he felt “absolutely fine” afterwards and was even back training at the gym on the Tuesday.

He was one of 20 F45 members who tested their mental and physical endurance with the epic challenge that raised about $10,000 for Mackay Women’s Services.

“We all know Sean, he’s such a determined person … we all know what he was doing it for and what it meant to him,” Lee said.

Lee measured out multiple different routes and transformed the CBD studio into a “camping ground” for the 48 hours.

Mackay's city F45 studio was converted into an indoor campground for the 20 members who took part in the Goggins 4/4/38 Challenge.

“We invited people to come along and join any of these runs every four hours,” Lee said, adding there was a bit of a revolving door of visitors joining the 20 across all hours.

“We had people coming back at 2am to run with us, which was amazing because that’s definitely when we needed it.”

Lee humbly admitted the challenge “broke” him at round six – but that didn’t stop him showing up to support his members.

“I gave it my best shot. I’m not a runner by all means … I broke after six runs. I’ve never had this feeling before … of not being able to run,” he said.
“I think you’ve got legs, you can run … I lost the running. I had to start walking. Then I’ve never had the feeling where I couldn’t walk.

“I felt like I failed. I love to work hard, help people. It really hurt me that I couldn’t keep going,” he said.

Sean said it would definitely complete the Goggins Challenge again.

Instead he jumped on his bike riding with Sean every two hours as well as joining the group running every four hours to cheer them on and “make sure everyone gets through it”.

He said the community and spirit from everyone was amazing. “We just got through it,” Lee said, adding he was “100 per cent” planning to do it against next year.

Lee and Kim, who own all three F45’s studios across Mackay and Emerald, were also celebrating their CBD business turning eight this year.

Although Lee remained tight lipped about how they were planning to celebrate, he did say “Halloween is just around the corner”.

As for Sean, he said he would definitely do the Goggins Challenge again next year but “I’ve got to make it 200km”.