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 , or from north to south†. 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 depending on the route taken.
†Distance calculated utilising the resources of Geoscience Australia.
Completed journeys 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.
Name Nationality Start date Finish date Duration Starting location Finishing location George Perdon August 1973 September 1973 47 days Fremantle Sydney Tony Rafferty August 1973 October 1973 74 days Fremantle Gold Coast Ron Grant 1983 1984 217 days Brisbane Brisbane Sarah Covington Fulcher 22 September 1986 26 December 1986 96 days Bondi Beach Fremantle (Perth) Robert Garside unknown unknown unknown unknown unknown Serge Girard 24 September 1999 9 November 1999 47 days Perth Sydney Pat Farmer 1999 unknown unknown days Syd Syd Including Tas Jesper Olsen 31 October 2004 11 February 2005 104 days Sydney Perth Achim Heukemes 2 April 2005 14 May 2005 43 days Fremantle Sydney Deborah De Williams 27 March 2010 8 May 2011 408 days Hobart Hobart Inc Mainland Remi Camus 15 October 2011 19 March 2012 100 days Melbourne Darwin Cesar Guarin 31 October 2011 6 December 2011 37 days Melbourne Brisbane Patrick Malandain 13 October 2013 20 November 2013 38 days Sydney Fremantle Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray 1 Jan 2013 1 Jan 2014 366 days Melb Melb Inc Tas Tom Denniss June 2013 September 2013 97 days Cottesloe Sydney via Melbourne Mark Allison October 2013 January 2014 82 days Perth Shellharbour James Brooman March 2015 May 2015 81 days Perth SydneyDave Alley 19 April 201511 October 2015175 daysLismore Oval, NSWLismore Oval, NSW Jason P. Lester March 2016 August 2016 118 days Scarborough Beach Batemans BayRichard Bowles1 June 20121 September457 daysHealesville, VICCooktown, QLD Nedd Brockmann 1 September 2022 17 October 2022 46 days Cottesloe Beach, WA Bondi Beach, Sydney Nikki Love 1 May 2023 16 July 2023 77 days Cottesloe Beach, WA Bondi Beach, SydneyGuy Schweitzer28 May 202313 August 202378 daysPort Hedland, WAScarborough, QLDChris Turnbull8 August 202316 September 202339 daysCottesloe Beach, WAManly Beach, NSWLachlan and Stefan Lamble11 February 20249 May 202485 daysPerth Stadium, PerthCatani Gardens, St KildaSean Bell10 March 202422 August 2024165 daysMelbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne Chad Aziz20 May 202621 July 202662 daysCottesloe Beach, WABondi Beach, Sydney
George Perdon George Perdon ran across Australia during the 1973 Trans-Continental Run, completing the journey in 47 days, 1 hour and 54 minutes. He averaged per day, and set records for , , and .
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.
Perdon died on 29 June 1993.
Tony Rafferty 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. 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. He completed the run in 74 days.
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.
Ron Grant
In 1983, Ron Grant ran 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 , 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.
Sarah Covington Fulcher The first woman to run across Australia, at age 24, from North Carolina, US, running east to west from Bondi Beach, NSW, to the western suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, 22 Sep to 26 Dec 1986.Russell, A. (1988). The Guinness Book of Records with Australian Supplement. Enfield, England: Guinness Books, pp. 350–351 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."Kevles, B. (1989, March). The longest run ever. Women's Sports and Fitness Magazine, 11(2), 67 "This would also make her the youngest person (at that time) to make any transcontinental run."Morris, D (2011). Sarah's Long Run: Highlights from Sarah Covington Fulcher's World's Record Longest Run. Jamestown, North Carolina: Crazy Feathers Publishing, p. 14
Sarah also set the Guinness world record for longest continuous solo run with a distance of in 438 days.Matthews, P. (1989). The Guinness Book of Records 1990. Enfield, England: Guinness Books, pp. 298–299. "Sarah Fulcher, an attractive, 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.Gossett, G. (5 June 1988). It's a very big run for a slip of a girl. Sequin-Gazette-Enterprise, p. 1A "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".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.
Robert Garside
Robert Garside is a British runner who ran through 29 countries on six different continents covering more than and covering a period of 2,062 days. He started and finished in New Delhi on 20 October 1997, and finished on 13 June 2003. He had completed his Australian leg of the run by April 2000.
Serge Girard
Serge Girard ran from Perth to Sydney in 1999, covering a distance of 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.
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 during his Centenary of Federation run. He set a new world record in 129 days, broke a long-standing Australian record of more than 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 ( in 83 days).
Jesper Olsen
Jesper Olsen is a Danish marathon runner who ran across Australia as part of his first journey around the world. He departed from Sydney on 31 October 2004, and arrived in Perth on 11 February 2005. 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.
Deborah De Williams Deborah De Williams 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. 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.
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 per day (more than ). He completed his journey with no vehicle support, pulling a trailer of . He went to visit two Aboriginal Communities, Docker River located west of Kata Tjuta and Mutitjulu located behind Uluru. He recorded his journey with 2 video cameras. He also raised money for a charity, Syndrome of Lowe, a genetic disease that affect mostly boys.
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 from Melbourne to Brisbane. The Australian run hoped to raise $200,000 funds.
Patrick Malandain Patrick Malandain (born 1960) ran across Australia from Sydney to Perth during the 2013 Trans-Continental Run, completing the race in 38 days, 12 hours and 58 minutes. He ran average per day. He breaks Achim Heukemes's record since 2005..
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.
Tom Denniss