‘Hardest Geezer’ finishes gruelling challenge running length of Africa

A British man who calls himself the “Hardest Geezer” has finished running the length of Africa after a gruelling challenge that has taken nearly a year.

Russ Cook, from Worthing, West Sussex, was joined by supporters as he crossed the finish line in Ras Angela, Tunisia, the most northern point of the African continent on Sunday.

The 27-year-old began his 16,000km (9,941 miles) journey at the most southern point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa, in April 2023 and had said he would become the first person to run the full length of Africa if he completed the challenge.

Cook has crossed 16 countries and run the distance of around 376 marathons, raising more than £600,000 for charities Sandblast Ltd and The Running Charity.

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Cook completed the feet on Sunday after an epic year of endurance, Pic: HardestGeezer/Instagram

The Running Charity supports the mental health of young people with complex needs or who are homeless, and Sandblast educates people about Sahrawi culture, a group native to the western part of the Sahara desert.

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He has not just had the intense heat and physical exhaustion to contend with.

In Angola, he and his team were robbed at gunpoint and had cameras, phones and passports stolen.

Then, in August, he went missing after being separated from his supporters for days in the jungle in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Cook’s team eventually managed to free him by paying off villagers who were armed with machetes.

In January, he turned to social media to help get a visa to cross the border from Mauritania into Algeria.

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Cook’s route across the entire length of Africa, having started running in April 2023

At the time, he said his challenge could end without the visa as there was “no other way” for him to reach the northern tip of Africa, posting, “it is all hanging in the balance, to be honest.”

After a huge social media campaign, the Algerian Embassy said it would grant him a courtesy visa “on the spot”, meaning he could cross the border.

Although the run across Africa is Cook’s biggest challenge, it isn’t his first.

At 22 – and having only run the Brighton Marathon before – he decided to run from Asia to England.