One of the greatest sporting stories of the last decade finally came to an end this weekend as Russ Cook, now known around the globe as the ‘Hardest Geezer’, officially completed his almost year-long run across the entire length of Africa. Yeah, all of it.
The 27-year-old athlete from Worthing in West Sussex has completed multiple endurance challenges in the past but none quite like this, completing a total of 385 marathons in 352 days and over 16,250 kilometres to run the length of the second-largest continent in the planet.
Having first embarked on his epic voyage back on April 22, 2023, and sharing the news of his challenge on social media, people haven’t been able to look away ever since and understandably so.
While his claim to be the first man to have carried out the feat in history has recently been contested by the World Runners Association (WRA), there can be no question as to how much of an inspiration his story has become for millions everywhere. And just look at what it meant – to everyone:
What an incredible bloke Russ Cook is. 👏👏@hardestgeezer has done it: he’s finally finished running the ENTIRE length of Africa. 🤯
But he still did – be it heavy downpours in the rainfoest, sandstorms out in the desert, the shock of snow in Algeria or just the gruelling heat of the equator regions, none of it mattered: he just kept going.
Bringing endless positivity to people’s timelines with his regular video updates whilst plugging away at the ridiculous daily mileage “on the ones and twos”, the simple conceit of a pretty pale ginger man running across one of the hottest stretches on Earth was plenty enough to keep tuning in every day.
There was a period where we’d wager the majority of Twitter (sorry, X), or at least 90% of British users anyway, were either checking in to see his latest progress or discovering the world of Hardest Geezer and his incredible challenge for the first time. Even 349 days in he was still pumping out the energy.
He might have been forced into a few days off through serious hospital-worthy injuries but he was never out for long.
Socials have been filled with countless people revealing how they’ve been inspired by his story Russ Cook’s mindset of never giving up.
One person wrote: “Keep telling myself when I’m out doing half marathons each weekend in preparation for a marathon and the legs are screaming, ‘Hardest Geezer wouldn’t give up. I’m not either’. An absolute genuine inspiration.” As someone training for his first Manchester Marathon, I can attest to that.
Another added: “In a world that can often feel overwhelming and full of challenges, finding inspiration in the hardest geezer has been a game-changer for me. Russ’ unwavering determination, resilience, and commitment to personal growth has reshaped my mindset and personal development.
A lot of those hopping on the bandwagon can’t even resist the familiar format of his vlogs either.
Civilians, influencers and people from all walks of life and starting to put the yards in.
It’s also worth reiterating that he’s taken on challenges like these for the right reason. In addition to reiterating that running has been a salvation for him following struggles with mental health, drinking and gambling, the entire ‘Project Africa’ undertaking was all done in aid of The Running Charity.
As well as raising awareness of the living conditions as he travelled through 15 different developing countries, from the moment he set off from Cape Agulhas in South Africa until now, he’s managed to raise around $870,000 (roughly £700k) for the extremely worthy cause.
The non-profit, which works with homeless young people and Sandblast, a cultural arts charity that helps those displaced from around the Western Sahara region, was set up back in 2012 and Russ’ has now helped the raise record amounts through nothing other than running.
Hardest Geezer has become an inspiration to millions now taking up running and has been for nearly a whole year.
A lot of this could be in our heads but it also just feels like we’re seeing more and more runners all over the city and Greater Manchester as a whole as well; we can only guess that a similar uptake in running as a reinvigorated fitness trend is happening in other parts of the world too.
We even feel like we’ve seen more people wearing Hoka, the running-based sports apparel that officially sponsored and supplied Hardest Geezer with his essential kit, in the year since he began pounding the pavements and plains of Africa.
No, we’re by no means saying this was entirely down to this one insane ginger bloke and utter running machine but it’s certainly helped put them even more firmly in the public consciousness — again, the lion’s share of the money went straight to charity.
His mind-blowing multi-marathon challenge and insane feat of physical endurance might be over, but the journeys he has spawned as a result are only just starting.
Not to overegg the pudding, but having someone quite literally pushing the boundaries of what most would consider humanly possible has been so motivating not only for people like us but god knows how many others.
It’s been one of the inspirational things we’ve ever witnessed and we genuienly can’t wait for him to take a beyond well-deserved break and give that England shirt a wash and come home a hero in time to enjoy the Euros with the rest of the country.
Now get those feet up, lad, you’ve more than earned a year off filled with nothing but long baths, cold beers and lots of kip. You’ve got millions of us to takeover the running lark for a while.
Featured Images — Hardest Geezer (via X)/jordancore4 (via Instagram)
Sport
Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
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Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Danny Jones -
8th April 2024 
