 This week Russ Cook completed his epic challenge to become the first person to run the entire length of the African continent. A journey which took him over 10,000 miles through 16 countries, the equivalent of 385 marathons in 352 days. But was he really the first? A year ago I had never heard of Russ Cook. Well, hardly surprising you might say. Why would you have? Well, you see, it's odd because Russ Cook is an ultra runner from Worthing in West Sussex. And I'm an ultra runner from Worthing in West Sussex. I just found it odd that I'd never come across him before. And when Russ started his epic challenge, I looked him up. But I couldn't find him on Power of Ten or Run Britain Rankings. I've never seen him at my local park run. And he's not listed on either the DUV, UTMB or the ITRA database of ultra runners. He's not a member of any local running club that I'm aware of. Although I do know that he did run the Brighton Half Marathon and the Brighton Marathon in 2018 when he was 21. But he's clearly not part of the local running community here in Worthing, or indeed the wider ultra running community. But that's absolutely fine. I mean, there are thousands of runners who never enter any races. They're not part of a local running club. And they're quite happy to just go out and do their own thing and enjoy running for what it is. And this run across Africa was certainly not his first venture into ultra running. Back in 2019, he ran 71 consecutive marathons, traveling from Istanbul in Turkey to Worthing. He's also ran a marathon on Worthing seafront in 2020 when he pulled a car behind him. And it took him nine hours to complete that. Surely that must have made some headlines here in Worthing or West Sussex. Maybe I just don't pay enough attention. I'll admit that when he started this challenge, I really didn't think he stood much chance of completing it. Purely from a running perspective, I just didn't think he'd be able to pull it off. So massive kudos to Russ for doing so. And it's also another testament to the power of the mind over the body. When we have dedication, desire and self-belief, it's amazing what we can achieve. Look at Russ. I'm sure he would admit to you that he isn't necessarily the strongest, fastest, almost experienced runner. And yet he's managed to achieve something that all the other strong, fast and experienced runners haven't managed to. During the event, Russ and the team suffered numerous problems. The support vehicle for one had to have regular maintenance and repair as one might expect, traveling such distances, often on very difficult terrain. Russ himself suffered sickness, diarrhea and bouts of injury, and it caused him to extend the run longer than had been originally planned. Russ was also held at gun point on one occasion and on another occasion was in fact kidnapped at knife point, taken away, held hostage and was only released when a ransom was paid. There were numerous issues regarding problems with visas, most notably when the British government themselves had to get involved to secure a visa for Russ to get into Algeria. But even after completing his journey and overcoming all those problems, it was then that the controversy kicked in. Or was it controversy? Anyway, a group calling themselves the World Runners Association claimed that Russ is not the first person to have completed the entire length of Africa. The WRA is a group of runners who have completed a circumnavigation of the globe. The issue seems to be that during the challenge Russ and his team were widely quoted as saying that Russ was attempting to become the first person to run the entire length of Africa. The WRA say that in 2012 Jesper Olsen became the first person to run the entire length of Africa from north to south as part of his run around the world. But how does one calculate the entire length of Africa? Before we discuss that, if you are finding this video useful, interesting, then please do consider subscribing to the channel. Also, click that like button and share this video with your friends I'd be forever grateful. Thank you. One might argue that the entire length of Africa would be from the southernmost point to the northernmost point, or vice versa. And as far as I understand it, that's exactly what Russ did, travelling from the southernmost tip in South Africa to the northernmost point in Tunisia. However, that's not how the jog or joggle work here in the UK. Neither Johnna Grotes or Land's End is the furthest you can go north or south in mainland Britain. Dunnett's Head is further north in Scotland and the southernmost tip of England is actually Lizard Point. Of course, using Johnna Grotes and Land's End is much more about symbolism and cultural and historical significance than technical accuracy. It's also a further distance and one could argue that the entire length of Africa should be the two points that are furthest away from each other on the continent. If we take that view, then Russ also did that. Jesper Olsen started his run walk in a place called Taba in Sinai, Egypt. He travelled to his most northerly point reaching Cairo on New Year's Day 2009 before travelling all the way down to Cape Town in South Africa. His journey was 12,787 kilometres. Russ actually travelled a lot further than that, covering 16,000 kilometres. So I think we can safely say covering all reasonable criteria that Russ did cover the entire length of Africa. Whereas we could argue that Jesper Olsen didn't quite cover the entire length of Africa. That's taking nothing away from Jesper's amazing adventure, because he did that as part of his second circumnavigation of the globe. However, the intrigue doesn't end there, because in 1998, 28-year-old Nicholas Bourne from the UK ran from Cape Town to Cairo. It took him 318 days and he travelled 12,069 kilometres. In fact, the trip had started in Alexandria in 1997, but he was forced to abandon that attempt when he got into trouble getting visas to get into Sudan. So he flew to South Africa and started all over again there. This time he completed the journey, ending at the Giza Plateau near the Keops Pyramid in Cairo on the 5th of December 1998. Similar to a UK Lajog attempt which goes from the southwest tip of England to the northeast tip of Scotland, neither of which being the most southerly or northerly points, Nicholas's journey went from the southwest tip of South Africa to the northeast tip of Egypt. So what do we make of all these shenanigans? Well, my take is that it doesn't really matter. If pushed, I would say that Russ' attempt is probably the most legitimate attempt to run the entire length of Africa because it went from one beach right at the southernmost point to one beach right at the northernmost point. That's probably the truest definition of the entire length that I could think of, and if Russ wants to claim that for his own, then so be it. But at the end of the day, does it really matter what Russ did was incredible, regardless of whether he was the first, and what Jesper Olsen and Nicholas Bourne did before him was equally amazing. In fact, Nicholas Bourne raised over a million pounds for Save the Children and the Bourne Free Foundation, and Russ raised a similar amount of money. Arguing about who was first smacks a little bit of poor sportsmanship and is rather uninspiring. So let's celebrate these incredible achievements by incredible people and not sweat the small stuff. Another couple of incredible individuals are Jasmine Parris and Damien Hall. And if you'd like to watch the chat I had with them about their Barclay marathon adventures, then click that link right there. I'll see you over there shortly. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel, and otherwise, I'll see you on the start line next time. Bye-bye.