Ultra running | A senseless running spree through Africa turned out to be life-threatening

Briton Russell “Russ” Cooke is currently running through Africa from the southern tip to the northern tip. The distance is an incredible 14,500 kilometers, or as Cooke puts it, 360 marathons. It is not very surprising that no one has done the same before.

Cooke started his job on April 22 and now, after half a year, he has advanced to the border area between Cameroon and Nigeria. Cooke is running on the western edge of Africa and has a few assistants with him.

Cooke’s original goal was to reach the “finish” in Tunisia by Christmas, but so much has happened and happened along the route that the achievement of the goal looms only next March.

In addition to breaking his own limits, Cooke collects funds with his Run, for example to support the homeless through The Running Charity. The goal is to raise 100,000 pounds (114,000 euros). Now there are 64,000 pounds (73,000 euros) in the bank.

Cooke, 26, is known for several past running exploits. In 2019, he ran from Asia to London in 66 days – the distance is 71 marathons. The length of one marathon is 42 kilometers and 195 meters. No one else has done a similar run.

In 2020, he ran a marathon pulling a 730-kilogram passenger car behind him. The time in the adventure, which was accepted into the Guinness Book of Records, was a little less than ten hours.

Cooke also has other kinds of exploits. In 2021, he was buried for a week – only food was water. The rapture was watched live on YouTube.

Cooke is not an athlete or even an exerciser by background. He started running at the age of 19 and hadn’t played any sports for years.

“I was pretty low on oxygen. I drank a lot, and gambled a lot. I had a friend who talked me into the Brighton Half Marathon,” says Cooke For The Argus.

Cooke got excited about running, saved money and quit his job to travel. It was during his travels that he met a man who cycled around the world and was excited by the idea of ​​running from Asia to London.

“This has been constant since then,” says Cooke.

Cooke previous exploits pale next to the African run. Cooke, who uses the nickname “Hardest Geezer” (Hardest Geezer), has been in a variety of situations during the past six months. The goal is to run 60 kilometers every day and always 20 kilometers at a time, but it has not always been successful.

After 77 days in the sky, Cooke was the victim of an armed robbery in Angola. Thieves took phones, cameras, cash and passports from him and his group. It took several days to get new passports and visas.

Last August, the running trip was going completely wrong. Cooke was running in the Congo jungle, and the rest of the group was in a completely different place.

“I made my way through the narrow jungle paths that were completely overgrown. It was complete chaos, and suddenly I came to a village where apparently nobody goes very often,” Cooke said Good Morning Britain – for the morning television broadcast.

Cooke encountered a village chief who spoke only the local language.

“He openly asked for money and became increasingly aggressive. I tried to convince them that I don’t have any money and more people came.”

And that’s not all.

“Several had machetes in their hands. I ran away into the jungle. I’ve heard how these stories usually end. How did I escape?”

Eventually, Cooke got in touch with a support group and almost made it to safety. Cooke considers what happened to be the most dangerous day of his life.

Sanoma is unable to verify the course of events from independent sources.

Robbery and in addition to the machete threat, Cooke has had several ailments. After less than a month of running, he had stomach problems and couldn’t eat. The situation worsened and Cook urinated blood. He finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with kidney stones. It took a few days to recover.

There have been several cases of food poisoning. The last one was a couple of weeks ago.

“Third day of food poisoning. The first day was pure violence from both ends,” Cooke wrote in X (formerly Twitter).

And the problems caused by kidney stones have not gone away either.

“I ate four donuts for lunch to cheer myself up. Afternoon session underway. I started urinating blood again. Sick,” Cooke wrote in X on October 13.

Cooke runs through several countries in Africa. The list includes South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Algeria and Tunisia.

In the coming days, it will be Nigeria’s turn.

“I have received warnings about security in Nigeria more than any other country on this trip. Interesting to see what the reality is. Excited to run across Nigeria,” Cooke wrote in X on Thursday.