Russ Cook got a surprising brace at the finish line.
Briton Russ Cook reached his lofty goal on Sunday. He arrived at the northernmost point of Africa to run more than 16,000 kilometers across Africa.
The run ended when he crossed the “finish line” in the northern tip of Tunisia with several supporters following him – except for one who crossed the finish line before Cook and actually broke the red tape.
The man in the yellow shirt had a Tunisian flag. Now the man’s rapture is getting knocked out on social media.
“The guy in yellow is everything that’s wrong with this world,” commented one.
“To come second after all this. Infuriating!”
Cook started its work from South Africa’s Cape Agulhas in April 2023 and will end in a little less than a year in Tunisia’s Ras Angela.
Cook has also collected money for charity with his Run. On Tuesday, there were already 842,000 pounds (almost one million euros) in the bank. The money will be used for mental health work for young people and for the education of people in Sahrawi refugee camps.
Cook’s running journey has not been all about running, because due to several problems and delays, the original plan to get there has been stretched.
Originally, his goal was to arrive in Tunisia before Christmas. In the fall, the goal moved to February-March, and he finally gets there on April 7.
Cook and his group were victims of armed robbery in Angola, for example. Cameras, passports and cell phones were stolen.
Cook became the first person to run from the southernmost tip to the northernmost tip of Africa. There have been other runners through Africa, including a Dane Jesper Olsen in 2010, but they haven’t quite run from the southernmost tip to the northernmost tip. For example, Olsen started his run in Egypt.