Another run across America underway - is it legit? Boots currently on the ground

Got to say I'm with Sneakers on this whole thing...

Your penchant for finger-pointing may be impressive in its audacity, but it lacks the substance of credibility. Until you unearth something more than speculative accusations, perhaps redirect that energy towards a more fruitful pursuit. After all, baseless accusations make for a poor foundation, especially when attempting to build a case against those
who've actually put in the miles.

You talk about arrogance and dismissiveness when you're the poster boy.

Offering up advice to PJ's crew chief by blasting Will's run was absolutely hilarious. You are abrasive and condescending with back handed remarks and a clear axe to grind.

You lob flimsy accusations at anyone who dares to go out and run without taking a few semesters of ultramarathon history. "Ohhh they're just trying to be influencers". And yet you're just trying to be your own brand of influencer. Instead of TikTok or Instagram you're bragging about being a consultant for documentaries and having conversations with elites where you draft their official press releases.

Let's debunk WC:

First, his skepticism is based only on one thing: armchair-expert analysis of heart rate data from wrist-based devices, which are not only inaccurate and filtered through both Garmin/Coro's algorithms and Strava's, but are also subject to the varying conditions of a full days worth of running including sunscreen, sweat, tightness on the wrist, not to mention that human being's hearts are not machines and are subject to swings when pushing the body to the extreme. And yes, it's clear that WG power-walked at a ~14/min pace for the second half of each day, which would explain the lower general heart rate.

Perhaps most telling is that WC went out to be "boots on the ground" in the USA for upwards of a week and could find no evidence of any cheating. He has continued to make baseless claims since and has put so much energy into this for the last year. Find something else to obsess over.

Seriously, Cockerell, you have no idea how to read data. Do you even know what moving time vs total time is? And I've already downloaded the data and analyzed that Day 38 you linked to as your self-righteous proof to once again slander Goodge after you just falsely accused him of pocketing charity funds that Balenger proved you wrong. You are just grasping at straw after straw.

Just checking in to report Sneakers is dull. Checking out.

Thank you for your service. Yes, I do feel dull being right all the time.

Heh randomly reading a 6 year old thread and noticed a poster who's spiel is strangely similar to SOTG...

I dont know what's real anymore, but I would like to see Johnson v Sneakers v Pope v Goodge v Cook Transcon

Waiting for a willvlc breakdown of Comrades data

Pure bloody gelignite... incoming. Because we can compare and contrast to his infamous duel with Molinaro at Jogle 5 years ago as a novice.

Will the data be similar hue or different, when on the record without Balenger, or off the record with Balenger?

Ok, so simply put, after his complete collapse on day's 3&4 at Jogle, Goodge then held Molinaro on her world record run in 2019. I checked 15 random Ks on days 8 thru 12 - Goodge won those head to heads 8-7 and ran at them at a pulse of 109 to Carla's 125.

Some examples are Km20 of day 9. Goodge scored a 7:12 at 121, and CM a 7:55 at 122. On day 10 he ran K 20 at 7:37 off 111 and CM 7:57 off 121. He ran K 60 at 7:21 off 116, and C 7:38 off 119. On day 12 CM ran k20 in 9:15 off 113 and Goodge 7:17 off 118. Two minutes quicker but only 4 more bpm reqd.

And on it goes.

So what it looks like is that WG is marginally the quicker athlete who operates at a much lower pulse. But is that true?

Ok, now let's put them in a sanctionned Ultra.

Here are Ks 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 & 80 at Comrades. Can Goodge hold Molinaro, and will his pulse be lower?

Here are their splits:

WG CM

5:30 4:24
5:12 3:53
6:13 4:19
5:37 4:15
6:08 4:28
6:32 4:29
6:14 4:10
8:29 5:38

WGs strike-rate has dropped from 53% wins to 0%, and in a race setting he is now giving up around 2 mins per km, and almost 3 if it involves a climb. A feature of his Jogle and Transcons were how elevation would have no impact on his speed or HR.

Right, let's look at what's happened to their HR. We know that at similar pace WG should have a rate of 15bpm lower, but as he's massively slower here he should be ever low HR comparison:

WG CM

148 167
174 166
175 169
173 158
173 159
135 159
126 149
135 157

So, WG is no longer always below CR on HR, they're 50-50 just as nature might dictate, but with his vastly slower times you would expect him to have lower HRs. But now he is running at a HIGHER pulse, but at a slower pace, ie KM 50 is 173 vs 159, but WG is running 6:08 to CMs 4:28.

This blows out the water all talk of sweat, loose watches and wrist monitors being rubbish.

WG has run Comrades in 8:52 at 149bpm, and CM ran 6:12 off 160.

It is great for the community to be able to compare their 2019/2020 Jogles with their 2024 Comrades. And the data tells us much about why this is such a hot topic.

The Lululemon runner Devon Yanko said Carla was "the female Will Goodge" on Friday.

Hopefully Devon would care to revisit that statement now.

This was a good one. These "pros" plan for this with a whole team but he shows up with a borrowed Garmin.

So can anyone recap what happened? The guy started a transcon and data was highly suspicious/impossible? Did he "finish" anyway? Any good fallout?

Guy rallied some money for charity by pretending he was going to break the transcon record. Tons of suspicious points in his cadence data early on after he gave up the record ruse. Trolled hard and made an ass of himself and the Navy for 50 days and then fizzled away like a wet fart.

When the likes of Goodge and Balenger do off the books multiday fundraising extravaganza's they're super effective and basically world class, with no mistakes, blow ups or any issues. They basically match noted world class multidayers for quality, but all off a pulse of 105-110 when it should be 130-140. They have done this for around 20,000k over the last 5 years and six events and about 6 different watches.

The funny thing is when they do sanctionned events they're worse than hopeless. Goodge had a horror at MDs, then dropped out of Cali 100 at 60 miles, and now here maybe he would be an hour or so behind Molinaro, but 2:40 behind?! It's so lame.

They both turned pro runners in 2019 off little to no proven ability but market themselves as Ultra gurus and up with the top ultra men in the world. They great supporter Rich Roll describes Goodge as "an absolute beast in ultra." So it's all smoke and mirrors and marketing to con the companies into sponsoring them. And all the fanboys call Goodge the 'Goat' and his speeds as 'mad' and 'insane'.

They can't really be busted for their lies, but they can be outed, and now WG is clearly staying away from the unsanctionned stuff, and just does dreadful efforts in real events. Fine by me, no problem with that. But he does called himself the British record holder for Transcon, and pushes that feat massively in all his marketing, and his second half split was the 7th quickest of all time from the last 100 years. All off a pulse of 105 to 110 and almost unheard of speeds like 9 miles in 80 mins. Even Kostelnick is not getting that.

His defenders say maybe he had a sweaty wrist or a loose watch. But he's always perfect outside these events, as he was of course yesterday.

It's a saga but we're fighting back well and showing we won't let our sport be run over by charlatans looking to make a fast buck. We live in a world of "say anything on the internet, and get the adulation." Pretty gross. Down under we have Aussie Nedd Brockmann claiming he'll run 1,000 miles in 10 days. Totally delusional. But he'll get an awful lot of press and funding for that.

And this is not even Goodge, but Paul Johnson, who said he would break the world record by 5%. Hoka threw 16 pairs of shoes at him and he got loads of funding etc. Gave up on the record half-way through day 4 and promptly added 10 days to his goal. Said they'd just enjoy the adventure of a lifetime. It's a beautifully simple con.

Willvlc is really jealous and hates these young guys doing what he never could so he sits behind his keyboard spouting rubbish about heart data and occasionally flys over to Amaerica and still can’t prove any wrong doing so he clutches at straws and thinks he’s doing a huge service to the whole running community when in reality it’s about 10 people on this running board. Boring now. I’m surprised WG doesn’t sue you for defamation of character. Then again seem he is quite busy jet setting around the and seemingly living a good life and helping charities and stuff, probably doesn’t even give you a second though.

Looks like Russ is one of them now too.

Not even bothering to put maps, cadence or heart rate up, delaying putting the strava up and crawling along at 13-14 min per mile. Just lapping up the applause from people calling him athlete of the year when it's almost laughably awful...all the while he grows his brand. About as hard as a three month old tomato.