People
Brit runs through Africa – doubts about record
British runner Russ Cook in the last 40 miles of his Africa project. photo
© Hasan Mrad/IMAGESLIVE via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
352 days, more than 16,000 kilometers, 16 countries – and many challenges: a Brit crossed Africa from south to north. He celebrates himself as a record holder. But there are doubts.
According to his own statements, he survived food poisoning, a robbery, a kidnapping and defied visa problems: a Brit traveled from south to north for almost a year Africa walked. Russ Cook reached the northernmost point of Tunisia, Ras Angela, on Sunday afternoon. According to his own information, Cook covered more than 16,000 kilometers through 16 states in 352 days. With his “Project Africa” he has raised more than 600,000 pounds (around 700,000 euros) in donations for two charities.
On his final stage, other runners accompanied the 27-year-old, who was greeted at the finish line by cheering friends and supporters. Some had flown to Tunisia specifically for Cook’s arrival. “I’m feeling pretty tired,” the endurance runner told British TV channel Sky News, posing in a throne. The success was to be celebrated in a hotel in the town of Bizerte with a big party and a performance by a British punk band.
Start in South Africa
The man from the southern English county of West Sussex ran from the southernmost point of South Africa on April 22, 2023. According to his own information, he is the first person to ever walk the entire length of Africa. “Mission accomplished,” Cook wrote on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
Runners’ association is skeptical
However, the World Runners Association (WRA), an association of ultra-endurance runners, contradicted Cook’s account. It recognizes the Dane Jesper Kenn Olsen as the first person to cross Africa, WRA President Phil Essam told the British newspaper Telegraph. In 2010, Olsen ran from Taba, Egypt, to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Cook, who did not take the direct route, was 3,400 kilometers longer, Essam admitted. However, whether the journey was further doesn’t count for the record.
“We should stick to the facts,” said WRA member Marie Leautey. “We have no problem recognizing that he was the first to walk from the southernmost point to the northernmost point.” They don’t want to diminish Cook’s performance. But it would be wrong to say that the Briton was the first person to walk the entire length of Africa.
Lots of problems along the way
Cook had to contend with a number of hardships along the way. According to his own statements, he suffered from food poisoning in Namibia, and two weeks later he had to miss work for days because he had blood in his urine. In Angola, Cook was robbed at gunpoint and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, villagers threatened him with machetes when he got lost and dragged him into the jungle. Towards the end of the tour, his run threatened to fail due to visa problems because the border region between Mauritania and Algeria was considered too dangerous. Two British MPs then exerted public pressure, and the Algerian embassy in London eventually helped.
It was without a doubt the most difficult challenge of his life, Cook wrote on X (formerly Twitter) last Tuesday, but a “tremendous honor.” “We met incredible people in every single country who greeted us with love and kindness.” He is incredibly grateful to the people in Africa.