"Sports Personality Of The Year or we riot; Absolutely insane and inspiring" - Fans react to Russ Cook running entire length of Africa

Russ Cook recently rose to prominence after becoming the first person to run the entire length of Africa. Having begun his journey on April 22, 2023, in Cape Agulhas, South Africa, he concluded the arduous marathon challenge on April 7, 2024, in Ras Angela, Tunisia.

Cook etched his name in history as he accomplished this feat in 352 days, traveling to 16 countries and covering a distance of over 16,000 km (9,940 miles). Through his running ultramarathon challenge "Project Africa", Cook was able to raise funds for two charities - The Running Charity and Sandblast.

Russ Cook took to X (formerly Twitter) to share this news with his followers and captioned it:

"The first person ever to run the entire length of Africa. Mission complete🫡"

The 27-year-old caught the attention of sports fans from across the world owing to his remarkable achievement.

One of the users on X (formerly Twitter) suggested that this accomplishment should earn Russ Cook the Sports Personality of the Year award, or else there should be a protest.

"Sports Personality Of The Year or we riot," they wrote.

Meanwhile, another user mentioned that it was a very inspiring performance.

"Absolutely insane and inspiring, huge ups man," they added.

While another user described the achievement as unreal and not an ordinary one and believed it should receive more coverage from the mainstream media. They wrote:

"That is an unreal accomplishment, Russ. This is no ordinary task. Should have seen more mainstream media coverage than it did."

Russ Cook was held at gunpoint during his 'Project Africa'

Russ Cook experienced numerous challenges on his journey to become the only human to complete the length of Africa. One such incident was when he and his team were robbed at gunpoint in Angola and all their money, passports, visas, cameras, and other essential equipment were stolen.

As a result, they had to travel to and fro to Namibia which was about 4000 km, which led to the postponement of the challenge for about 14 days.

On their visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, he met the chief at a small village where Cook was asked for money. Since he didn't have money, he was kidnapped by men with machetes.

Additionally, he faced health-related issues as he suffered from food poisoning within 30 days of the ultramarathon, and two weeks later, he began experiencing hematuria (blood in the urine). In Nigeria, Cook was taken to a hospital following serious back pain about 200 days after the attempt.

On Day 278, Cook and his team had to wait at the Algeria-Mauritania border to receive permission to cross the region. However, the issue got sorted right after it became a trending topic on social media, which resulted in him and his team being granted a courtesy visa by the Embassy of Algeria in London.