British athlete now close to becoming fastest human to run across Australia

William Goodge is closing in on becoming the fastest person ever to run across Australia.

The British endurance athlete, who turned to running to cope with the death of mum Amanda to cancer in 2018 when she was just 53, is now on the home stretch as he bids to finish the challenge in a world record 35 days.

That would beat the previous record set by Aussie Chris Turnbull, who completed the route in 39 days and eight hours last October.

Goodge set off on April 15 to run run the equivalent of 90 marathons, or more than two a day, across 4,000km of unforgiving terrain from Perth to Sydney, raising money for charity.

‘The end feels very close’

The figures from Goodge’s attempt are astonishing and he remains on target to finish this coming Monday (19 May).

The 30th day was ticked off on Wednesday, as he clocked 116.15km in 15 hours and 30 minutes.

Posting on Instagram he said: “Feeling privileged, present, and blessed. 30 sunrises and sunsets down, and the end feels very close. Second biggest day of distance checked off.”

And his team have also been uploading more regular videos on YouTube as the finish line starts to come within sight, giving the tens of thousands who are following his bid a deeper understanding of what he is going through – and we’ve embedded the latest one below.

Final effort

There’s a lovely moment in it when Goodge sees the video message from marathon GOAT Eliud Kipchoge, wishing him all the best for the final push to Sydney.

But it’s also clear the extent to which Goodge is pushing his limits – at the end of one day he’s lying flat out on the road before ticking off the final kilometre of another 100+km stretch.

As he says himself though: “The fact I’m still hitting my targets and the average of what I need each day to get there that Monday – it’s slowly coming down and it’s okay, I’m getting there.”

And while the last day may be a celebration, there’s still plenty of work to be done by then. He added: “The last day is going to be like ‘thank god, you’ve made it’ but still the days before you’ve got to go out and do that thing again.

“It’s not like the end of school where you’re about to break up for summer where you just start dossing.

“If I just do what I’m doing now, the last day should be down to 70-80k.”

You can keep track of William’s progress here. And his fundraising page is here.