This article is about people who have run, and are currently running, across or around Australia. For a list of people who have walked across Australia, see List of people who have walked across Australia.
Location of AustraliaMap depicting the geographical extremes of Australia, and the cities at each point of the compass
People who choose to run across Australia can choose to run from either of the geographical extremes of the continent, or from directly opposed cities on opposite shores. The westernmost geographical extreme of Australia is Steep Point, whereas the easternmost extreme is Cape Byron. Similarly, the northernmost geographical extreme is Cape York Peninsula, and the southernmost is the South East Cape. The distance between the east and west as the crow flies is 4,000km (2,500mi), or 3,860km (2,400mi) from north to south†.[1] The westernmost capital city in Australia is Perth, and the easternmost capital city is Brisbane. The northernmost city is Darwin, and the southern to the southernmost city is Hobart.
Runners who choose to circumambulate Australia can follow the National Highway for large sections of their journey. Distances involved are in the vicinity of 14,300km (8,900mi)[2] depending on the route taken.
The names of the individuals who have run across Australia have been listed below in chronological order. Sources for data contained within this table have been listed within the body of the article, or where not readily available, directly from the individual concerned.
George Perdon ran across Australia during the 1973 Trans-Continental Run, completing the 4,807km (2,987mi) journey in 47 days, 1 hour and 54 minutes. He averaged 100km (62mi) per day, and set records for 1,000 miles (1,600km), 1,500 miles (2,400km), 2,000 miles (3,200km) and 2,600 miles (4,200km).[4]
Perdon became a household name in 1973 when competing in the 1973 Trans Australia race and racing his rival, Tony Rafferty. Perdon was unable to get time off work at the appropriate time and missed the official start, giving Rafferty one week's head start before heading off from Fremantle. Perdon was to end up beating Rafferty into Sydney by a day. They took slightly different routes during the run, causing the run to generate front-page headlines for a majority of the journey.[4]
In 1972, Tony Rafferty became the first man to run from Melbourne to Sydney, pioneering ultra-distance running in Australia. He was also the first man to run from Perth to Adelaide, Adelaide to Brisbane, Melbourne to Brisbane and Sydney to Brisbane. In 1978, he became the first man to run from Melbourne to Sydney and return.[5] In August to October 1973 Tony became the first person to run from Fremantle to the Gold Coast, and in the process became the first person to run across the Nullarbor Plain.[6] He completed the run in 74 days.[7]
Tony has received many commendations for his achievements. Most notably, he was a Torch Bearer for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and the recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2002 for services to Ultramarathon Running and the promotion of Community Fitness.[6]
In 1983, Ron Grant ran 13,383km (8,316mi) around Australia in 217 days. Ron completed the run in an anticlockwise direction. Starting in Brisbane, he then proceeded to Townsville, Mt Isa, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, then back to Brisbane. He maintained an overall daily average of 61.67km (38.32mi), and was the first person to do it solo. Soon after this achievement, he was awarded the Queensland Sportsman of the year Award in 1983, Queenslander of the Year in 1984, and the Order of Australia in 1984.[8][9]
Sarah Covington Fulcher
The first woman to run across Australia, at age 24, from North Carolina, US, running 2,727 miles (4,389km) east to west from Bondi Beach, NSW, to the western suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, 22 Sep to 26 Dec 1986.[10] Fulcher describes her journey through remote areas in an interview with Bryant Gumbel on NBC's Today Show. "Sarah Fulcher set her incredible record one marathon at a time. It was an unparalleled feat that will take a heck of a commitment to beat. During her record run, Fulcher averaged 10 minutes per mile."[11] "This would also make her the youngest person (at that time) to make any transcontinental run."[12]
Sarah also set the Guinness world record for longest continuous solo run with a distance of 11,134 miles (17,918km) in 438 days.[13] "Sarah Fulcher, an attractive, brightly-smiling, 25-year-old native of Winston Salem, N. C., jogged through Sequin this week on her way back to Laguna Hills, Calif., near Los Angeles, from where she began her 11,000 mile run...the world's longest, continuous solo run in history.[14] "Fulcher has been recognized by untold news organizations and government organizations including the Connecticut General Assembly Permanent Committee on the Status of Women's (CTPCSW) publication Selected Highlights of Women's History (page 38) and the United States Congressional Record in a "Salute to Sarah Covington Fulcher".[15]
Robert Garside is a British runner who ran through 29 countries on six different continents covering more than 48,000km (29,826mi) and covering a period of 2,062 days.[16] He started and finished in New Delhi on 20 October 1997, and finished on 13 June 2003.[17] He had completed his Australian leg of the run by April 2000.[18]
Serge Girard ran from Perth to Sydney in 1999, covering a distance of 3,755km (2,333mi) in 46 days, 23 hours, 12 min and setting a world record in the process. The world record remained intact until beaten by Achim Heukemes in 2005.[19][20]
Jesper Olsen is a Danish marathon runner who ran across Australia as part of his first journey around the world.[21] He departed from Sydney on 31 October 2004, and arrived in Perth on 11 February 2005.[22][23][24] He completed the journey in 104 days, before proceeding onto Los Angeles to complete the American leg of his run around the world.
Achim Heukemes
Achim Heukemes (born 1951 in Wuppertal, Germany) is an ultramarathon runner known for his 4,568-kilometre run through Australia. He started from Fremantle on 2 April 2005 and finished in Sydney 43 days, 13 hours and 8 minutes later. By this feat, he beat the previous world record of Serge Girard from 1999.[25]
Remi Camus
Rémi Camus ran across Australia, Capital to Capital, Melbourne to the Top End, Darwin. He covered his journey in 100 days at an average of 54km (34mi) per day ( more than 5,300km (3,293mi)). He completed his journey with no vehicle support, pulling a trailer of 45kg (99lb). He went to visit two Aboriginal Communities, Docker River located 182km (113mi) west of Kata Tjuta and Mutitjulu located behind Uluru. He recorded his journey with 2 video cameras. He also raised money for a charity,[26]Syndrome of Lowe, a genetic disease that affect mostly boys.[27]
Cesar Guarin
Cesar Guarin ran across Australia in 2011, as part of his Global Run for an advocacy to help Filipino children experiencing poverty. His run across Australia was the fifth leg of his Global run and has a total distance of 2,053km (1,276mi) from Melbourne to Brisbane. The Australian run hoped to raise $200,000 funds.[28][29]
Pat Farmer
Pat Farmer established the fastest around Australia long run record of continuous running in 191 days and 10 minutes (around 6 months) over 14,662.4km (9,111mi) during his Centenary of Federation run. He set a new world 10,000km (6,214mi) record in 129 days, broke a long-standing Australian record of more than 13,383km (8,316mi) in 174 days. He set a total of ten international records including the Western Australia border to border run, the Brisbane to Darwin run, and the world record for the longest tropics run (6,307km (3,919mi) in 83 days).[30]
Deborah De WilliamsAM successfully walked around Australia in 2003–04, and set a world record for the longest walk by any woman in the process. On 25 October 2008, she began running from Hobart in an anti-clockwise direction to raise funds for the national breast Cancer Foundation. She made it to Darwin before being injured, and was subsequently forced to withdraw from the run on 5 June 2009. On 27 March 2010, she restarted her run again from Hobart and successfully circumambulated the continent on 8 May 2011. In doing so, she set another world record for the longest run for a woman.[31] In 2015 Deborah was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours for her service to the cancer community and ultra marathoning community and in doing so is officially recognised as the first woman to run around Australia.[32]
Patrick Malandain
Patrick Malandain (born 1960) ran across Australia from Sydney to Fremantle (Perth) during the 2013 Trans-Continental Run, completing the 3,861km (2,399mi) race in 38 days, 12 hours and 58 minutes. He ran average 100.177km (62.247mi) per day. He breaks Achim Heukemes's record since 2005.[33][self-published source?]. It's the new world record.[citation needed]
Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray
Ultra-marathoners Janette Murray Wakelin and Alan Murray ran around Australia in 2013, taking 366 days to complete the journey. The couple, aged in their 60s, averaged at least 1 marathon per day. They followed predominantly Highway 1. They aimed to promote the raw food movement.[34][self-published source?]
Tony Mangan
Tony Mangan ran across Australia south to north on his world run (in which he covered 50,000km in 4 Years from 2010 to 2014) He started on Australian mainland in Queenscliff, Melbourne, on 13 March. He finished on the Australian mainland in Nightscliff Beach, Darwin (Nightscliff Pool), on 25 May, 2014. The distance run on the mainland was 3,777km in 69 road days. The average distance run per road day was 54.73km; there were five rest days taken. The average distance including rest days was 51km for the 74 days. This has been declared as a new Melbourne-to-Darwin Trans-Australian record by Phil Essam, former Australian ultra-running vice-president, historian, statistician and author.[citation needed] He also ran from Hobart Airport to Burnie, Tasmania, and including the mainland, has also been declared as setting a second Trans-Australian record for Tasmania to Darwin. The total Australian distance run was 4,064km.[citation needed]
Mark Allison
Mark Allison is known as Run Geordie Run and as part of his charity money raising he completed the run across Australia in January 2014.[35]
James Brooman
James Brooman ran from Cottesloe Beach, Perth, to Bondi Beach, Sydney. The journey was solo and unsupported, with James pushing a buggy the entire distance. Beginning on 11 March 2015 he completed the journey of 2,562mi (4,123km) in a time of 81 days, 5 hours 55 minutes. The route took him through Kalgoorlie, across the Nullarbor on Highway 1 and through the Blue Mountains via Cowra. Prior to this journey James was an inexperienced runner, completing 3 marathons since 1999, and began his running training for this challenge in December 2014.[36]
Tom Denniss
Tom Denniss ran across Australia from Perth to Sydney in 2013. It was the final leg on his world circumnavigation run, which he commenced on New Year's Day, 2012, in Sydney. The trans-Australia leg was 97 days from 10 June to 13 September 2013, covering 5,000km from Cottesloe Beach in Perth, to Kalgoorlie, Norseman, then across the Nullabor Plain, then Melbourne and finally Sydney, where he completed his world run on Friday, 13 September 2013.[citation needed] This was the fastest ever circumnavigation of the Earth on foot, some 40 days quicker than Jesper Olsen's earlier circumnavigation.[37] Denniss' entire run raised $60,000 for Oxfam Australia.[38]
Jason P. Lester
The first American male to run across Australia. Jason P. Lester's Trans Australia Run started in Scarborough Beach, Western Australia and ended 135 days later in Bateman's Bay, New South Wales. Lester ran 118 days, 2,633 miles, of which 2,000 miles were self supported pulling his gear in a 50lb cart.[citation needed]
Greg Brown
Greg ran the East Coast of Australia from Cockle Creek on the South East Cape of Tasmania to the top of Cape York, Queensland, following the coast as close as possible totalling 5,500km. He did it to raise money for The Cancer Council under the title of 'Cape to Cape for Cancer'. He started on 2 April 2016, had 7 April off to catch the ferry across Bass Strait, then continuing along the coast to Cape York. Finishing on 22 June 2016 only 82 days after starting.
Andre Jones
At the age of 56, Andre, who lives in Melbourne after serving 18 years in the Royal Australian Navy, ran solo and unsupported across Australia from Melbourne to Darwin in 93 days, between 10 March 2017 and 13 June 2017. In the 93 days, he took 9 days of rest (5 of which was to recover from an infected ant bite). From Melbourne, he travelled west to Adelaide then north to Darwin along the Stuart Highway via Port Augusta, Marla and Alice Springs, camping along the road when no other accommodation was available. Covering the approximately 3,700km in the 84 running days, he averaged 44km per day. As Andre was solo, he pushed the Intrepid (a custom made buggy) which carried his water, camping gear and supplies; when fully stocked it weighed as much as 95kg. Andre used this journey to raise funds and awareness for beyondblue.
Richard Bowles
In 2012 Richard Bowles covered almost the entire length of the Great Dividing Range, along Australia's Bicentennial National Trail at 5,330km.[39]
Nikki Love ran from Cottesloe Beach to Bondi Beach over 77 days in 2023, raising money for the ADHD Foundation’s Umbrella Project.[41]
Lambros
In 2024, Stefan and Lachlan Lamble, a brother duo better known by their collective social media handle Lambros, ran approximately 3,360 km from Perth to Melbourne to raise money for cancer research. The duo attracted more than 522,000 Instagram followers and more than 10 million YouTube views.[42][43] They also garnered mainstream press.[44][45] Additionally, they were the first brothers to run across Australia in recorded history, raising A$212,628 for cancer research as of June 2024.[46] They completed their journey in 85 days despite injuries such as stress fractures, achilles tendinitis, and a torn meniscus.[47]
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42 km 195 m, usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.
Australia's Highway 1 is a network of highways that circumnavigate the country, joining all mainland capital cities except the national capital of Canberra. At a total length of approximately 14,500 km (9,000 mi) it is the longest national highway in the world, surpassing the Trans-Siberian Highway and the Trans-Canada Highway. Over a million people traverse some part of the highway network every day. It is the longest continuing highway in the world as the Pan-American Highway is separated by the Darién Gap and AH1 is separated by the Sea of Japan. However it is not the longest continuous stretch of highway as both the northern section of the Pan-American Highway and the continental section of AH1 still out-measure it.
An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of 42.195 kilometres. The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running.
Patrick Francis Daniel Farmer is an Australian ultra-marathon athlete, motivational speaker, and former politician. He served as a Member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the seat of Macarthur in south-west Sydney from 2001 to 2010, as a member of the Liberal Party.
Rail transport in Australia is a component of the Australian transport system. It is to a large extent state-based, as each state largely has its own operations, with the interstate network being developed ever since Australia's federation in 1901. As of 2022, the Australian rail network consists of a total of 32,929 kilometres (20,461 mi) of track built to three major track gauges: 18,007 kilometres (11,189 mi) of standard gauge, 2,685 kilometres (1,668 mi) of broad gauge, and 11,914 kilometres (7,403 mi) of narrow gauge lines. Additionally, about 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) of 610 mm / 2 ft gauge lines support the sugar-cane industry. 3,488 kilometres (2,167 mi), around 11 percent of the Australian heavy railways network route-kilometres are electrified.
Jesper Olsen, or Jesper Kenn Olsen, is a multiple national record holder ultra distance runner from Denmark, and was the second person verified to have run around the world, as well as the first verified to have run around the world in a north-south rather than east-west direction.
Francis Edwin Birtles was an Australian adventurer, photographer, cyclist, and filmmaker, who set many long-distance cycling and driving records, including becoming in 1927 the first man to drive a car from England to Australia. Birtles had set a speed record driving from Darwin to Melbourne the previous year.
Rosie Swale-Pope, MBE is a British author, adventurer and marathon runner. She successfully completed a five-year around-the-world run, raising £250,000 for a charity that supports orphaned children in Russia and to highlight the importance of early diagnosis of prostate cancer. Her other achievements include sailing single-handed across the Atlantic in a small boat, and trekking 3,000 miles (4,800 km) alone through Chile on horseback.
Multiday races are ultramarathon running events which are typically either segmented into daily events of a specified distance or time, or staged so that runners can run as far as they want, at their own discretion, over a set course or over a set number of days. Multiday races can range from continuous 48-hour track events to staged transcontinental treks.
Albert Ernest Clifford Young OAM was an Australian athlete from Beech Forest, Victoria. A farmer, he became notable for his unexpected win of the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon in 1983 at 61 years of age.
Richard Bowles is an adventurer and educator who holds several records in endurance running. In 2012, Bowles became the first person to run Australia's Bicentennial National Trail (BNT). Running from Healesville, Victoria to Cooktown, Queensland, he covered 5,330 km in five months.
Australia was a relatively early adopter of electrical telegraph technology in the middle of the nineteenth century, despite its low population densities and the difficult conditions sometimes encountered in laying lines. From 1858 onwards, the major capitals were progressively linked, culminating in the addition of Perth in 1877. Australia was linked to the rest of the world for the first time in 1872, through the Overland Telegraph which ran some 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) from Adelaide through to Darwin. The network continued to expand in size and sophistication until 1959 and in heavy usage until 1945, after which time telephone usage began to erode public patronage of telegraphy services. The final publicly provided telegraphy service was closed in 1993.
Jason P. Lester is an endurance athlete, the author of the book Running on Faith, and the 2009 ESPY Award winner for Best Male Athlete with a Disability. He is the first disabled athlete to complete the Ultraman World Championships. He is the Founder of EPIC5 Challenge, EP1CMAN and The NEVER STOP Foundation est. 2007.
Andrew Hedgman is a New Zealand born ultramarathon runner who resides in Brisbane, Australia. He is also a licensed Skydiver and Scuba diver.
Tony Mangan is an ultra distance runner from Ireland. He completed on 27 October 2014 a 50,000 km (31,000 mi) distance running around the world for Aware, a charity helping to defeat depression. He is the current world 48-hour indoor track record holder 426.178 km (264.815 mi). Also the world 48-hour treadmill record 405.22 km. Mangan states, "I didn't start running till I was almost 30. Then I dreamed of running around the World. I got delayed for over 20 years for many reasons, breaking a few world ultra records. Now I am retired from competition I can finally live my dream."
Deborah Anne De Williams is an Australian ultra-marathon athlete. She is the first woman to walk around Australia and the first woman to run around Australia.
Ronald Moreton Grant OAM is an Australian long-distance runner.
Eleanor Robinson is a British former ultramarathon runner and two-time winner of the IAU 100km World Championships. She was the first woman to run over 150 miles in a 24-hour endurance race. She was the winner of the first Badwater Ultramarathon in 1987. She was twice bronze medallist at the IAU 100 km European Championships.
Samantha Gash is an Australian professional endurance athlete, social entrepreneur, motivational speaker. As an endurance athlete, Gash focuses on long distance expedition runs and adventure races. She is an ambassador to numerous organizations and events including World Vision, Lululemon Athletica, Run Melbourne and Travel Play Live.
References
↑ Australia, Geoscience (27 June 2014). "Continental Extremities". Geoscience Australia. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
↑ Matthews, P. (1989). The Guinness Book of Records 1990. Enfield, England: Guinness Books, pp. 298-299.
↑ Gossett, G. (5 June 1988). It's a very big run for a slip of a girl. Sequin-Gazette-Enterprise, p. 1A
↑ Lowery, B. (15 May 1989). Salute to Sarah Covington Fulcher. United States of America Congressional Record Proceedings and Debates of the 101st Congress. First Session (135) 61.
↑ Governor-General. "2015 Australia Day Awards"(PDF). www.gg.gov.au/. Governor-General of Australia. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
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