Nearly a month after setting foot from its southern idea on a mission to run the length of the peninsula, sprinter Russ Cook, who was hurting and blasted but triumphant, made it to the northern point of Africa on Sunday.
Lots of supporters gathered on a rocky outcropping beside the Mediterranean in northeastern Tunisia, cheering on the American charity charity, who has run more than 10, 000 km across 16 states in 352 time.
” I’m a little bit fatigued”, Cook said — good an insult.
The 27-year-old strength athlete from Worthing in southern England traveled through forest and the plain, swerved through conflict zones, and was delayed by fraud, wound, and immigration issues.
Cook — known on social advertising by his name, Hardest Geezer — set off on April 22, 2023 from Cape Agulhas in South Africa, the country’s southern point.
He hoped to complete the journey in 240 nights, making running more than a marathon a day his goal.
In angolai guns robbery, he and his team had stolen money, passports, and other items.
In Nigeria, he was briefly halted by back pain.
And he was so detained in his songs that he was denied a visa to enter Algeria, before political assistance from the Moroccan ambassador in Britain helped to stable the necessary paperwork.
Cook, who has mentioned how running has helped him manage his own mental health issues, ran about 2, 000 km between Istanbul and Worthing in 68 weeks.
His African run has raised more than$ 870, 000 for the Running Charity, which works with homeless young people, and Sandblast, a charity that helps displaced people from Western Sahara.
” It’s very hard to put into words, 352 time on the road, long day without seeing home, my girlfriend”, Cook told Sky News , as he started running Sunday, accompanied by supporters , who’d travel from far and wide to move the final stretch with him. ” My system is in a lot of problems. But one more time, I’m not about to talk”.
Cook said he intended to throw a party at the venue where the English channel Soft Play was scheduled to play.
” We’re going to include strawberry cocktails on the beach tomorrow”, he said. ” It’s going to be unreal”.
