Russ Cook: British man sets record with 16,000km run across Africa

A British man known as the “hardest geezer” has finished running the entire 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.

He began his 16,000km (9,941 miles) journey from the most southern point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa, on 22 April 2023.

Mr Cook has faced visa complications, health scares and an armed robbery in his bid to become the first person to run the full length of the continent.

In the hours before completing the challenge he posted on the X social media platform: “Can’t believe it’s nearly over. See you at the shell garage soon boys & girls.”

Throughout the venture, called Project Africa, Mr Cook has raised more than £650,000 for two charities, the Running Charity and Sandblast.

For the final day of his challenge, Mr Cook invited his supporters to take on the last marathon with him, with many flying out to Tunisia to run alongside him.

“How can you be tired when there’s this many people running with you?” he told Sky News. Last Tuesday, Mr Cook said the challenge had been “the toughest in my life but an immense honour”.

He wrote on X: “We have met incredible people in every single country we’ve been to that have welcomed us with love and kindness.

“The human spirit is a beautiful thing. Very grateful for these experiences and would definitely encourage anyone out there to go get after that adventure, whatever it looks like for you.”

In Angola, he and his team were robbed at gunpoint. They had cameras, phones and passports stolen. In August, he went missing and was separated from his supporters for days in the jungle in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

They 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.

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.