Russ Cook is a one of those Englishmen — as in, “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.”
From UltraX:
Russ Cook @hardestgeezer on Instagram started his mission to become the first man to run the entire length of Africa in April 2023 – over 300 days ago. Initially expected to take 240 days, Russ has had to face an armed robbery (Day 64) and other attempted robberies, kidnapping (Day 102), various incidents of blood in his urine, food poisoning, visa issues (Day 278) and now as the days tick over 300, he faces the 50° heat of the Sahara Desert.
The good news though, is that he has set himself an end date. Sunday, April 7th, Day 352 of running for Russ, at the northern most tip of Africa – Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia. That will be the end of his 15,000+km journey.
The ultra & trail running site Run 247 documents it all.
This sublime madness evokes the shade of Ewart Grogan, who determined to walk Cape-to-Cairo to prove he was worthy of the hand of his lady love. Took him 2-1/2 years, with a pause in Rhodesia to help defend Bulawayo in the 1896 Matabele Rising. Hippos, headhunters and crocs notwithstanding, he made it in 1898, won lovely Gertrude and became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and met the Queen.
Must say, I am happy to see that such Victorian lunacies are alive and well…
Matthew says
We Americans tend to take think the British are staid, but they produced a lot of wildmen. Which is to the their credit.
Wayne says
There’s a good deal of wild British blood flowing in our American veins as well!