Credit – @hardestgeezer
A red-headed Brit named Ross Cook claims he’s become the first person ever to run across the entire length of Africa after crossing a finishing line in Tunisia. The feat was immense, filled with danger, and when the self-styled “Hardest Geezer” arrived at the shores of the Mediterranean, he had run just over 385 marathons in 352 days; a total of over 10,000 miles. More importantly as Cook sees it, his inspirational accomplishment has raised over £650,000, close to a million dollars, for a selection of charities. His route crossed 16 countries, deserts, rainforests, and mountains, and saw him get entangled in visa issues, muggings, sandstorms, injuries, sickness, and snowstorms. It started in South Africa’s remote southern town of La Agulhas and landed him on a Tunisian beach with a strawberry daiquiri in his hand. BBC reports that his route started in South Africa, and was followed by Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Algeria, and Tunisia. His first 60 marathons went off without a hitch when he started in April 2023, but it was in Angola that he and his team were robbed at gunpoint, with money, passports, and phones all stolen. The next major setback occurred in Cameroon where he was constantly battling food poisoning. After crossing Nigeria to Benin he felt like a shell of himself. By that point he had run something like 210 marathons. Reaching the very unique country of Mauritania on day 267, people were endlessly stopping on the roads to offer water and supplies. But then, unable to transit into the vast Algerian Sahara because of visa difficulties, he needed the help of the British government to intervene on his behalf. That would have been a fitting last obstacle to overcome, but the Sahara buffeted him with both sandstorms and snowstorms in the same period. On the final day, his last 44 kilometers to the finish line were characterized by a gang of inspired runners who had flown out for the occasion. British Man Finishes His Run Across Africa: 385 Marathons in 352 days:
