THE DOUBTERS WILL HAVE TO GO BACK ON ANYTHING THEY'VE EVER SAID ABOUT ME CHEATING.

Will Goodge's Australian Ultra: Record, resilience, and responding to the ‘cheat' accusations

- Rob Kemp

Will Goodge’s transcontinental run across Australia was never going to be easy - but few expected it to become a battleground for his credibility.

Covering more than 110km a day in blistering 35°C heat, the endurance athlete shattered expectations and set a new bar for human performance. Yet, even as his body broke down and hallucinations set in, a fresh challenge emerged: accusations of cheating. In this exclusive interview with Men’s Fitness, Goodge opens up on the physical toll, the mental grind, and his clear-eyed mission to silence critics - not with words, but with even bigger, bolder feats to come...

Men’s Fitness: You've run across the UK, the US, and now Australia. What made this your most brutal test to date?

Will Goodge: This has definitely been the most brutal one yet. I get the feeling the aftermath will be a long one. After the US, I couldn't push hard for 6-7 months. It just takes time for that strength to come back. Your body is wrecked; even something as simple as walking up the stairs can be a challenge after so long [of] just moving in a straight line. This has definitely been the longest consistent daily distance I've ever done so I imagine the recovery will take a good while.

MF: Clocking over 110km a day in 35°C heat, how did your body hold up, and what broke down first?

WG: The heat hit me hard from day one. It’s relentless out there, no shade, no escape. The first thing to really start going was the skin on my feet. Blisters on top of blisters, and then the sheer impact really hit my legs.

MF: You've mentioned in the post-race press about hallucinations and bone pain. What did a typical night’s “recovery” look like on this challenge?