*****This open letter by numerous concerned members of the running community has been sent to William Goodge and his team, various media outlets, sponsors and record keeping bodies of the sport.*****
To: Mr. Goodge and Mr. Brooks
Date: 8 May 2025
Subject: Concerns Regarding Data Integrity of the Trans-Australia Attempt
Dear Mr. Goodge and Mr. Brooks,
We are writing as a group of athletes, coaches, analysts, and deeply invested members of the global endurance running community to express serious concerns regarding the integrity of your current Trans-Australia record attempt.
This is a monumental and prestigious record—one that represents the pinnacle of human endurance. As such, it deserves careful scrutiny and transparency from anyone seeking to claim it. Our concern is not rooted in scepticism for its own sake, but in a mounting body of data which appears to conflict with the physical reality of such a feat.
The Core Issue
The heart rate data you have published throughout this attempt is physiologically inconsistent with the effort required to cover 110 km per day on foot, day after day. This is not a subjective opinion—it is a data-driven observation supported by comparisons with your own training history, with known, verified efforts by other ultra-endurance athletes, and with basic principles of exercise physiology.
For example:
• Your average heart rate over multiple consecutive days is reported at 100–105 bpm, despite a moving pace of approximately 6:30–7:00/km over 13 hours of movement daily.
• Comparatively, athletes such as Chris Turnbull, who held similar daily mileage, recorded average heart rates of 120–130 bpm.
• Even in your own training runs, your heart rate averaged 140–150 bpm over far shorter distances (20–50 km).
• During the MOAB 240, your heart rate showed a sudden and sustained drop in the second half of the race—despite your pace increasing and your position climbing from 35th to 5th—an anomaly that raised concern at the time.
These discrepancies are not isolated. Similar heart rate irregularities were noted during your 48/30 Challenge, your Transcon attempt, and as early as Day 3 of your 2019 JOGLE effort, when you acknowledged collapsing. Yet from that point onward, this pattern of suspiciously low heart rate during high-output performances has persisted.
To be clear: walking, taking breaks, and pacing strategies are all permitted and respected within this record framework. But the concern here is not about strategy—it’s about whether the full distance is being covered entirely on foot as claimed.
Responses to Community Questions
When members of the running community have raised these questions—politely and constructively—on platforms such as Strava and Instagram, the responses from your team have been unprofessional and hostile. Instead of engaging with the data or providing clarification, multiple commenters (including the official account) have responded with extreme profanity and dismissive remarks. This behaviour not only undermines public confidence, but also raises further concern about transparency and the willingness to have this record scrutinized fairly.
Why This Matters
You are on track to break the previous Trans-Australia record by a margin of 4–5 days, or roughly 12% faster—an astonishing improvement on what is already considered a pinnacle of human endurance. To do so with consistently lower cardiovascular strain than anyone else on record raises questions that deserve answers.
This is not a personal attack. It is a call for transparency and integrity in a sport that relies heavily on self-reporting, especially in record-setting journeys without third-party race oversight.
We believe the public deserves a clear explanation for:
• The consistently low heart rate data,
• The uniformity across days without expected signs of fatigue accumulation,
• The mismatch between pace and physiological output compared to verified ultra-endurance data sets.
Unless these concerns are addressed with verifiable clarity, there is a growing risk that this attempt will be seen as illegitimate—not only by observers, but by the broader running community and media.
⸻
Next Steps
This letter will also be shared with several media outlets and governing bodies tracking ultra-distance records. We sincerely hope you will take this opportunity to clarify the discrepancies raised here—through transparent data sharing, open communication, and, if necessary, third-party review of the activity files. We have only one day of your Transcon Whoop for instance, but it appears to be missing 3 hours of running.
We all want to celebrate extraordinary human efforts. But we also believe the legacy of this record and the trust of the running world deserves full accountability.
Yours in Sport,
In alphabetical order:
Steve Boyd - 6x Canadian Champion over 10k Road, Track, and XC, Athletics Canada Certified Performance Coach (Level 5).
Josh Budin - marathon runner and IP lawyer
WVL Cockerell - athlete, author, statistician, UKA coach and running historian
Nic Gould - distance runner and IT expert
Matthew H Fraser Moat - publisher Athletics Weekly 2005-2010
Luke Ivory - 2nd at the EMU World 6 Day Trophy, FKT for NC500
Alexander Mackula - distance runner, language and sports teacher
Lynne Maughan - Ultrarunner x 34, multiple podium finishes
Simon Maughan - Champion of the Ultra Running Ltd Jogle, 2025
Richard McDowell - Six ultramarathons, five wins
Adrian McGarva - Sub-elite runner from Sydney and actuary
Lee Plank - Ultra runner, Club runner for Highworth Running Club Training
Chris Taylor - TaylorMade Coaching & Events, UKA coach, Bespoke Events (8 x world records]
Jamie Taylor-Caldwell - sub-elite distance runner; 8:20 for 3k
AP Weir - President Thames Hare and Hounds, the oldest running club in the world
Lee Wingate - first to ever complete Jogle unsupported, Portsmouth to Birmingham FKT
James Williams - Ultra and multiday runner, world record Jogle attempt 2019