(Reuters) – Extreme marathon runner Russ Cook completed his run across the entire length of Africa in Tunisia on Sunday after travelling through 16 countries, with the 352-day odyssey including being robbed at gunpoint and suffering food poisoning.
Cook began his journey in April at Africa’s southernmost point, the South African village of L’Agulhas, and ran up the continent’s west coast, covering over 16,000 kilometers in total.
“The first person ever to run the entire length of Africa. Mission complete,” Cook shared on social media platform X.
The 27-year-old crossed through Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, and Algeria before reaching Ras Angela on Sunday evening.
Known as the “Hardest Geezer,” Cook has also raised over half a million pounds for charity during his journey.
“The main goal is to challenge yourself and do something incredible, which is what ‘Hardest Geezer’ is all about,” said Simon Klima of Givestar charity platform.
“Simultaneously raise a lot of money for some really important causes, that’s happening on the Givestar platform, so we are very privileged to have that happening there.
“So far nearly 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 joined by supporters on the final leg of his journey, with many traveling specifically to be there.
“I saw the post on Instagram where he invited everyone out. I was laying on my couch, it was a Sunday afternoon, I saw it and he said everybody can come,” shared Warren Blake from the U.S. with Reuters.
“I just couldn’t miss a crazy historic opportunity like this.”
Arriving at the finish line wearing an England football jersey, Cook was met with chants of “Geezer, geezer” and told reporters, “I’m pretty tired,” before treating himself to a well-deserved strawberry daiquiri.
($1 = 0.7914 pounds)
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
