On the 10th of January, Australian professional off-road athlete Brendan "Trekky" Johnston will attempt to break the fastest known time in crossing Australia, from Perth to Sydney. It’s a long way, approximately 4,000 km. The existing record, held by Austrian Christoph Strasser, sitting at six days and 11 hours. It’s an ambitious goal in what should be Johnston’s off-season. I caught up with Johnston to record a podcast about the attempt.
Not keen on podcasts? The following is a digitally summarised transcription of the discussion. It's been manually edited.
Dave Rome: Hello and welcome to a special episode from Escape Collective. I'm not sure what bucket this episode belongs in. It dips its toes into Geek Warning territory while equally putting half an arrow sock into Performance Process, but really it's just a chat with one of Australia's best athletes attempting a wild FKT (fastest known time).
On the 10th of January, Australian pro off-road racer Brendan Johnston, aka Trekky, aka the token Australian within the men's Life Time Grand Prix field, will set off from Perth with the goal of riding across Australia and reaching the Sydney Opera House in the shortest time ever recorded.
This is a chat about the upcoming attempt, what it'll take, and the equipment and, surprisingly last-minute training that has gone into it all. I recorded this chat a few days before Christmas, and as you may hear, Brendan was still yet to figure out a few pieces of the puzzle, but he's told me that everything is still going to plan and as discussed.
All right, Brendan Johnston, how are things over there? Where do we find you at the moment?
Brendan Johnston: Yeah, good. Thanks, Dave. I am in Canberra, my hometown—well, not my hometown, but where I’ve spent the last 15 years or so and where I do my preparation for typically the race season. But yeah, this year is a little bit different.
DR: Why different?
BJ: I've decided to add a little bit of a stocking filler to my programme next year in a record attempt from Perth to Sydney. It’s a supported record attempt on a bike. So yeah, it's changed up the start of the summer and certainly has kept me busy.
DR: Interesting. Well, I'm going to ask you about that record attempt, but first, I guess for listeners that aren't familiar with you, you've been racing the Life Time Grand Prix in the US. You're an off-road athlete, the token Aussie of the Life Time Grand Prix. Is it just you representing the Aussies in the men's?
BJ: Yeah, we had obviously Lachlan [Morton] in there for a few years, who did some great things. But yeah, at the moment, it’s just me flying the flag. Obviously, we've got some Kiwis that have stepped up, and Courtney Sherwell is in the women's side for next year as well. So there’s a bit of representation from down under.
Alex Hunt
DR: Nice. And you're coming back for 2026?
BJ: Yeah, another season. It’s sort of where I found my little home as a pro for the time being.
Did we do a good job with this story?
