Pom smashes iconic Aus record but tracking furore rears ugly head

An Englishman has shattered an iconic Australian record, but it has come shrouded in controversy with cheating claims being raised.

Earlier this week, English runner William Goodge not only broke the record for the fastest time to run across Australia — he smashed it.

The 31-year-old beat Australian Chris Turnbull’s previous record by a staggering four days, as he ran from Cottesloe Beach in Perth to Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach in just 35 days.

He remarkably completed the 3,952 kilometre journey from west to east 12 days faster than notable Australian Nedd Brockmann did three years ago with roughly 500 people waiting to greet him at the finish line.

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Goodge, who was once a model and semi-professional rugby player, spent 15 hours a day pounding pavement and ran roughly 110km per day on average to break the record.

All the while, his more than 250,000 Instagram followers came along for the journey as they scrolled on their phones.

The numbers are simply mind-blowing.

It is little wonder the Englishman told foxsports.com.au he has “been pretty horizontal” in the days since he completed his epic journey.

Officially the fastest human to run across Australia.

William Goodge.

Congratulations to Will, well done to his team, and thank you to everyone that showed up to support the finish.

❤️🇦🇺🏆 pic.twitter.com/kjxJFaaazf

— Represent (@representclo) May 19, 2025

But Goodge’s success is not being widely celebrated among the ultra-running community.

Running such vast distances is largely reliant on self-reporting via the data collected on a GPS watch, and some have accused Goodge of fudging his numbers.

Fellow English runner William Cockerell voiced concerns about Goodge’s heart rate data when he completed his run across the United States of America two years ago.

Goodge ran from Huntington Beach in California to New York in 55 days, making him the fastest Englishman to ever do so.

He was 13 days shy of American Pete Kostelnick’s record, but Cockerell believed Goodge’s heart rate was too low for the extreme distances he was running.

Cockerell even went to America to follow Goodge during his run, trying to catch him swapping his official GPS watch with different runners and having a rest.

The pair then clashed on the side of a road, which made for a fiery YouTube video.

Goodge passionately denies the allegations, simply saying “we had a tracker on, it was on me at all times” after his Australian record.

Goodge’s run on the second day of the challenge was flagged on Strava for a perculiar reading.

“People could come cheer me on or come for a run sometimes,” he added.

The accusations come not just from Cockerell, however.

Fellow British runner Robert Pope, who grew a massive beard in 2016 and recreated Forrest Gump’s run, told British newspaper The Times last month that he doubted Goodge, saying his “heart rate doesn’t make sense”.

The ABC reported that suspicions were heightened by Strava data on day two of Goodge’s run across Australia when followers noticed that he had covered 400 metres in just 23 seconds - 20 seconds faster than South African Wayde van Niekerk’s world record set at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Canadian Running Magazine also published that they had picked up that Goodge’s data said he ran at faster than 80km/h on occasions.

William Goodge celebrates upon breaking the record via his Instagram.

The anomalies could simply have been transmission errors as he ran through remote areas.

While the heart rate concerns could be explained by him running slowly, or the fact often he ran with a face covering may helped.

Regardless, Goodge has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.

“I’ve done everything I’ve ever said I’ve done,” Goodge told the Australian Financial Review (AFR) before he set off from Perth.

“But I appreciate that there is a higher burden of proof when you say you’re going for an actual record.”

With his feet up after the run, Goodge instead chose to focus on the positives.

His efforts have raised more than $20,000 for the Cancer Council of Australia as well as thousands of dollars for UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support and the American Cancer Society.

Goodge lost his mother from non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2018, and her memory was well and truly on his mind as he made his away across Australia.

He lay flowers for her when he arrived at Bondi Beach, and the inspiration for his journey was a family holiday as a primary school aged child.

“I’ve always loved the country. I came for the first time when I was 11 and went all over the place. After that trip, I’d always bug my parents to move,” Goodge said of Australia.

“I wanted to grow up like an Aussie kid outdoors, everything seems super positive and obviously the weather is pretty good here compared to the UK.

“When I’m intrigued by a place, my way of going and looking at it is running across it or doing a big run within it. So, it seemed like a natural next step and one that I really wanted to do.”

William Goodge running on a cold morning via his Instagram.

Family was also physically part of the whole journey as his father was part of the five member crew that supported Goodge in almost any way possible.

“The only things I do for myself are run every step and wipe my own ass,” he said with a laugh.

“They’re literally helping with everything from the moment I wake up to when I go to bed.”

Their support was essential particularly in the early stages, with the opening stanza out of Perth and dodging road trains and wildlife across the Nullabor proving most challenging.

“The first nine days were kind of like a revolving nightmare that I couldn’t get out of,” Goodge said.

“I couldn’t sleep at night because I was in so much pain.

“Obviously when you’re not sleeping a lot, and you’re going out and pushing hard again, it’s relentless and it takes your head into some strange places.”

Helping him as well was the support of new-found friends Brockmann and fellow Brit Russell Cook, who boasts 1.2 million Instagram followers under the moniker ‘Hardest Geezer’ after he ran from the southern most point of Africa to the northern most point.

“Nedd Brockmann is a friend of mine. We’d spoke beforehand and we chatted along the way,” Goodge said.

“It’s quite hard to find similar people to yourself when you do cross country, literally across a country, not the traditional way.”

British runner William Goodge at Bondi Beach on May 19, 2025, when he became the fastest person to run across Australia. Picture: Aymon Bertah

Brockmann was one of the first people to comment on Goodge’s Instagram post announcing he had broken the record, writing “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!” he continued.

Australian comedians Matt Ford and Jack Steele from The Inspired Unemployed also leant a hand by sending Goodge and his team some of their Better Beers for the celebrations.

Goodge did not shy away from having a beer and a cigarette across the journey for his mental health and as he needed to consume roughly 7000 calories a day to fuel his body.

He sometimes took those down moments as a chance to take aim at his vocal critics on social media, however.

“Keep talking motherf******, keep adding fuel to the fire and I’ll make it even more unbelievable,” he wrote in one Instagram post.

Another Instagram story was captioned: “And from all of us at the record down under team, to the nay sayers we sincerely say f*** you.”

William Goodge enjoying a beer and a cigarette via his Instagram.

Goodge insists his main motivation is not fighting his opponents, however.

He says he will keep taking on these challenges, with the Berlin and New York marathons, as well as a project in Iceland, in his sights for the remainder of the year, because the finish line feeling is like no other.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling because you’ve been out there for more than a month. Especially when you’re in the middle of it, you think it’s never going to end,” Goodge said.

“It’s definitely a big amount of relief and gratitude to those who helped me. That feeling of crossing the line is like no other I can imagine.

“That’s the real reason I keep going back to these things.

“It can only be attained through a huge and physical mental output.”

Originally published as Pom smashes iconic Aus record but tracking furore rears ugly head