Russ Cook, nicknamed the ‘Hardest Geezer’, has completed a record-breaking 9,500 mile challenge across the length of Africa.
The 27-year-old started his journey in Cape Agulhas, South Africa last April and has traversed 16 countries so far on the way to his final destination of Ras Angela, Tunisia.
He has travelled the entire Western coast of Africa, running 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 in a period of roughly 352 days.
Along the way he’s been robbed at gunpoint, held by passport authorities, and gotten lost in a jungle in the Democratic Republic of Congo, suffered extreme back pain, and also raised £568,000 in total for charity so far. At one point, the runner claims he was even urinating blood.
The trek picked up significant support on social media, sports celebrities like Olympic runner Mo Farah have been giving him callouts, while he has managed to rack up 900,00 followers on Instagram and almost 200,000 on his YouTube channel.
Who is the ‘Hardest Geezer’?
Russ Cook is from Worthing, West Sussex and calls himself the ‘Hardest Geezer’ on social media. He was first introduced to long distance running when a friend convinced him to enter a half marathon aged 21.
Before that he claims that he suffered from issues with alcohol abuse to gambling, saying he “couldn’t run a bath, let alone a marathon” back in 2016.
This isn’t Mr Cook’s first epic running challenge as he previously ran 71 marathons in 66 days in a trek from Asia in London in 2019 that took him through Istanbul, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
‘Hardest Geezer’ Russ Cook (Photo: Russ Cook)
Mr Cook also holds the record for the longest car pull, after he dragged a Suzuki Alto 26 miles across England’s southern coast back in 2021.
This might not be last time you see Mr Cook in news for a record breaking running challenge either. Back in 2020, he said he was toying with the idea of running from the North Pole to the South Pole, a journey he says would take roughly two years of running a marathon every day.
Mr Cook started the final leg of his journey at 10am UK time today in Ghezala, southern Tunisia. He reached his final destination, the northernmost tip of Africa, between roughly 2.30pm and 4pm UK time.
Mr Cook wrote on X ahead of the final leg: “Can’t quite believe it but we’ve managed to pull off Soft Play playing the finish line party in Tunisia.
“Get your daiquiris ready girls & boys this is gonna be mega.”
(Photo: Russ Cook)Why has is he running the length of Africa?
Mr Cook is using the Africa challenge to fundraise for two charities.
He is running for Running Charity, a British organisation which aims to use running as a way to fundraise for the 122,000 young people in the UK who are homeless.
The challenge is also raising money for Sandblast, a charity which looks to protect and support the Saharawi tribes of the Sahara. The Saharawi are a native tribe of the Sahara desert who have survived significant levels of persecution under Morocco and Algerian lawmakers.
But it’s not just about the fundraising, Mr Cook says he wants to inspire people to “throw everything and the kitchen sink at life”.
Throughout the venture, called Project Africa, the 27-year-old endurance athlete has raised more than £550,000 for the Running Charity and Sandblast – in just the last seven days he raised over £217,000 of his target.
You can donate to the journey by using the official page which you can head to here. Mr Cook aims to hit £1m raised for the entire project.
Source link : https://inews.co.uk/news/worthing-russ-cook-hardest-geezer-set-finish-africa-run-2994714
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Publish date : 2024-04-07 07:00:00
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