Extreme marathon runner Russ Cook completed his run across the entire length of Africa in Tunisia on Sunday, reports the Daily Maverick.
He ran through 16 countries and his 352-day odyssey included being robbed at gunpoint in Angola and suffering food poisoning.
Cook started his adventure in April 2024 at Agulhas, and proceeded up the continent’s west coast, running a total of over 16 000 kilometres.
“The first person ever to run the entire length of Africa. Mission complete,” Cook posted on social media platform X.
The 27-year-old ran through South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Algeria, and Tunisia, before arriving at Ras Angela on Sunday evening.
The endurance athlete, who calls himself the “Hardest Geezer”, has raised more than R11 million for charity along the way.
Cook was accompanied by supporters on the final leg of his journey, many of whom had flown out especially 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’, Warren Blake from the U.S. told Reuters.
‘I just couldn’t miss a crazy historic opportunity like this.’
Cook, wearing an England football jersey, arrived at the finish to chants of ‘Geezer, geezer’, telling reporters: ‘I’m pretty tired’, before enjoying a well-earned strawberry daiquiri.