[
When the race lasts for a 12 months the race can turn into a bit of tougher and complex by robberies, illness and males with knives.
Englishman Russ Cook dinner, 27, accomplished his race from south to north throughout the African continent in Cape Angela, Tunisia on Sunday. They departed from Cape Agulhas, South Africa on April 22, 2023.
Alongside the way in which, he encountered difficulties not typically seen within the simple turns round a suburban park.
In Angola he was robbed at gunpoint. He received meals poisoning in Namibia. Within the Republic of Congo, they had been attacked by males armed with machetes. He confronted visa associated issues in Algeria.
In the long run he handed by way of 16 nations. After their introduction into South Africa, they principally coated the western a part of the nation, near the ocean. He mentioned he selected the West African route primarily for security causes, though he nonetheless confronted harmful situations.
In Angola in June, Cook dinner was stress-free together with his entourage within the group assist van when a person with a gun opened the door. The person escaped with cash, a cellphone and a digital camera, however nobody was damage.
“He's going to take issues; We’ve got to permit that,” Cook dinner mentioned in a YouTube video shortly afterward.
The incident within the Republic of Congo was even scarier, he mentioned. In August, operating individually from his group resulting from impassable roads, Cook dinner encountered some males with knives who demanded cash, though his complete stock on the time was a half-eaten cookie.
“I gave it to them and ran,” he mentioned.
Later that day, away from his group, he met two males on a bike who motioned him to get on board. With “no cash, meals, water, sign, information or details about the place the boys had been”, they determined to take action, he mentioned.
He was taken on a seven-hour journey.
“In my thoughts I assumed this was it,” he wrote on social media. He reached a village and was confronted with extra meaningless calls for for cash. It took a number of days for his group to succeed in him, pay his hostage-takers, and permit him to flee.
After the incident he mentioned, “My head just isn’t utterly proper now.”
Cook dinner additionally suffered again ache, meals poisoning and different well being issues, which, together with a daunting bike affair, in the end compelled him to take extra days off than he had initially deliberate and decreased his every day revenue.
In the long run, he ran 10,100 miles and raised 690,000 kilos, or about $873,000, for the operating charities, which helps youth experiencing homelessness, and Sandblast, which helps the indigenous individuals of Western Sahara. Cook dinner, nicknamed the Hardest Geezer, averages about 29 miles a day, even taking into consideration relaxation days and his varied diseases and accidents.
Though it was billed as the primary circumnavigation of the continent, the World Runners Affiliation, a runners' group, advised The Telegraph {that a} Danish athlete, Jesper Olsen, had achieved the feat in 2010, though by a distinct route. He ran roughly 8,000 miles from north to south, from Egypt to South Africa.
The group mentioned it acknowledged Cook dinner as the primary individual to run from the southernmost to the northernmost level of the continent.
“There are lots of people earlier than me who’ve achieved nice issues,” Cook dinner advised “Good Morning Britain” on Monday. “Congratulations to all of them.”
After his ultra-ultramarathon accomplishment, Cook dinner mentioned he had a strawberry daiquiri and some beers.
“Yesterday it was fairly overwhelming,” he mentioned Monday. “I awakened a bit of drained.”
As for his plans for the primary day after his feat, “I must do some stretching at the moment, however no operating.”
He added, “It's time for a haircut.”
With 48 hours remaining, because the end approached, a crewmate requested Cook dinner to share his ideas. “It's been a bit of loopy,” he mentioned. “Loads of ups and downs.”
“Obtained one thing brief in the course of the street?” The crewmate mentioned, hoping for some viral content material.
Cook dinner's response: “Bro, I've run 63K.”