In a November 28, 2018 Facebook post, Mr. Newburn wrote: "Now that I am back home and the brain has started to clear from the fog and fatigue, I have been able to think and reflect on the run. First of all I am not going to claim the record for some obvious reasons. There were parts of the run where road /bridge conditions were totally unsafe to run and therefore I made the call to be driven through these parts - these decisions were my decisions. The traffic was the main culprit in these situations but there were some parts where road conditions were unsafe as well so therefore the process happened. The conditions down south at times were also totally unsafe (there were parts where I was being blown all over the place ) and with sleep deprivation taking a big hold , this added to the problem." One comment he received is: "Mate, your a bloody cheat, period." Another commented, "Epic run???? Epic drive more like it."
Did his conscience get the best of him (like it did for Rosalynn Frederick who falsely claimed that she ran across America), or were the post-run questions and doubts he received about his performance simply too much to bear? MarathonInvestigation.com examines closely world record claims in distance running. In a January 2019 article the website reported that Graeme Calder was a crew member for Mr. Newburn during the New Zealand attempt. Mr. Calder provided an example of Mr. Newburn's cheating by stating that over a two-day period Mr. Newburn traveled by vehicle for over 60 miles -- rather than running. Mr. Calder stated:
"It kept on continuing, getting worse. The people we were staying with, he was lying about what he was doing, where we finished, where we started, times, distances. He was making out that he was running 110... 115... even 120 kilometers a day when he wasn’t even coming close to that. His lies were just increasingly constantly. To me he was bathing in the glory of what people think he was achieving. It is more than being addicted to the running. I think he is really addicted to the publicity and the people complimenting him on what he’s done and the likes he gets on Facebook… he bathes in the glory of it all. He was smoking constantly. He tried to hide the smoking initially. He was making out he was someone different than he was. I wished I was never involved in it."Rosalynn Frederick and Perry Newburn are long-distance runners who claimed that they achieved something that they actually didn't. Both used vehicles to transport themselves over considerable distances while at the same time claiming that they were pounding out the miles... stride after stride. They were dishonest and both of them raised thousands of dollars for their runs, and chosen charities, without genuinely doing what they claimed. I started in long-distance running back in 1980 (nearly 40 years ago) and have seen many runners either found guilty of cheating or ultimately confessed of cheating. It's truly a sad commentary on modern-day distance running and the apparent need of some people to put up a false front in order to gain accolades.
From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),
Paul J. Staso
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Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek
Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:
- United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
- Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
- Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
- Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
- The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
- Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
- Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
- Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
- Some Cycling Moments From The Past
