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Extreme marathon runner Russ Cook completed his cross-Africa run in Tunisia on Sunday after traveling through 16 countries, the 352-day odyssey including being robbed by dogs and suffering food poisoning.
Extreme marathon runner Russ Cook completed his cross-African run in Tunisia on Sunday after traveling through 16 countries, the 352-day odyssey including being robbed by dogs and suffering food poisoning.
Cook started his adventure last April in the southernmost point of Africa, the village of L’Agulhas in South Africa, and continued up the west coast of the continent, running a total of over 16,000 kilometers.
“The first person ever to run the length of Africa. Mission accomplished,” Cook posted on X’s social media platform.
The 27-year-old passed through Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania and Algeria, before reaching Ras Angela on Sunday evening.
The endurance athlete, who calls himself the “Toughest Geezer”, has also raised more than half a million pounds for charity along the way.
“The main goal is to challenge yourself and do something amazing, which is what the ‘Toughest Geezer’ is all about,” Simon Klima of the Givestar charity platform told Reuters.
“Raise a lot of money at the same time for some really important causes, that’s happening on the Givestar platform, so we’re very privileged to have that happening there.
“So far almost 600,000 pounds ($758,160.00) has been raised for two charities, Sandblast and the Running charity. Hopefully, going to hit a million pounds, Russ will hit a million pounds with his fundraiser, that’s the target.”
Cook was accompanied by fans on the final leg of his journey, many of whom had flown out specially to be there.
“I saw the post on Instagram where he invited everyone out. I was lying on my couch, it was Sunday afternoon, I saw him and he said everyone can come,” Warren Blake of the United States told Reuters.
“I couldn’t pass up a crazy historic opportunity like this.”
Cook, wearing an England football shirt, arrived at the end of the “Geezer, geezer” chant, telling reporters: “I’m pretty tired”, before enjoying a well-deserved strawberry daiquiri.
($1 = 0.7914 pounds)
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)
