Russell Cook (26), AKA Worthing's Hardest Geezer, is still on a mission to be the first person to continuously run the entire length of Africa, despite several serious setbacks that meant he missed his original target of completion by Christmas.

Here is Russell's Christmas Day report, as posted on Twitter: "Hope everyone had a banger Chrimbo. I woke up, blasted the Pogues, opened my present (apple & raspberry @perfecttednrg), chased it down with some homebrew booze we bought off a lady on the side of the road. Ran a marathon. Set up camp in the bush. Made a big fire. Ate some chicken. Made the fire even bigger. Drank some more. Smashed some stuff with the machete. Went to bed."

Worthing's Hardest Geezer is also now Worthing's Hairiest Geezer as he has vowed not to shave or cut his hair until his mission is accomplished. His Christmas Day exercise comprised a morning run of 26.1K with 339m elevation in 3:15:46 and an afternoon run of 16K (136m elevation) in 2:06:27 for a total marathon distance in 5:22:13 (475m height gained).

"Oh, and Santa delivered me some fresh tarmac to smash in a new country", said Cook as he headed into Guinea from Liberia in West Africa – still a long way short of his ultimate goal in Tunisia. The mission started at South Africa's most southerly point on 22 April 2023 and the plan was to complete the run in 240 days via the equivalent of 360 marathons at 63K per day.

A catalogue of major injuries; debilitating illnesses; visa problems; enforced route changes adding distance and even an armed robbery have all conspired to knock Russell Cook off kilter but while his pace has dropped, the determination to complete the task remains rock solid.

The scariest moment so far was the gunpoint robbery on 24 June in Angola, when the team lost cash, phones, cameras, and their passports. Ever the pragmatist, Cook told a BBC reporter at the time: “First things first, we’re grateful to make it out alive. We lost a few thousand quids worth of stuff, which is a big problem for us, but we will endeavour to soldier on and get things sorted”. He then added: “Almost everyone we’ve met in Angola has been really friendly and welcoming, so it’s a shame this happened, but c'est la vie”. 

Despite all the expected and some unexpected issues, Cook managed his biggest daily mileage of the challenge so far on Tuesday 19 December (Day 241) by running 110.12K, or 68.4 miles, through the Ivory Coast.

To follow Worthing's Hardest (and Hairiest) Geezer's challenge, click on his Linktree here.

To support Russell Cook's charity for homelessness and complex needs click here.

Photos courtesy Russell Cook – Project Africa