British runner Russ Cook is reportedly eligible to claim the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award after his incredible achievement of running 10,100 miles across the entire length of Africa.
The 27-year-old – dubbed ‘Hardest Geezer’ – this week completed a run that saw him start in the continent’s most southern point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa on April 22 last year before crossing the finish line in Ras Angela, Tunisia, the most northern point on Sunday.
Incredible scenes saw Cook, from Worthing in West Sussex, embraced by loved ones and serenaded by fans chanting ‘Geezer, Geezer, Geezer’ before he declared that he wasn’t finished with running challenges and may run across north America next.
The epic trek took him 352 days to finish and was the equivalent of running 385 marathons.
Cook has already been swamped with TV interviews and has been in the headlines across the country, and now his rise to fame could see him claim the esteemed SPOTY prize despite not being an official athlete.
Cook – labelled ‘Hardest Geezer’ could join Mary Earps in claiming the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award after his incredible feat to run the length of Africa
Cook is said to be eligible despite not being an official athlete after running the equivalent of 385 marathons
The SPOTY award is one of the most prestigious in British sport – with previous winners including Ben Stokes (L) and Andy Murray
Russ finished his challenge on Saturday after travelling through 16 countries over 352 days
According to the Telegraph, Cook would qualify for the prize after his momentous achievement that saw him raise more than £700,000 for charity.
The report points out SPOTY’s terms and conditions for the award, which outline that the winner of the prize should be ‘a sportsperson whose sporting actions have most captured the UK public’s imagination’.
The conditions add that the shortlist should ‘reflect UK sporting achievements on the national or international stage’, ‘represent the breadth and depth of UK sports’ and ‘take into account the ‘impact’ of the person’s sporting achivement beyond the sport in question’.
The SPOTY award is one of the most prestigious in British sport and was last won by England women’s goalkeeper Mary Earps.
Previous winner have included huge sports stars like Mo Farah, Andy Murray, Ben Stokes, Lewis Hamilton, Paula Radcliffe and David Beckham.
Cook has claimed he was the first ever person to run across the entire length of Africa and the Guiness World Records confirmed they were planning to present him with the award – providing he can give evidence.
‘As per our guidelines, the start and finish point of the record title, Fastest crossing of Africa on foot (male) is Ras Ben Sakka, Tunisia to Cape L’Agulhas, South Africa, which are the Northernmost and Southernmost points of mainland Africa.
‘Russ would be the first record holder of this title and we are looking forward to receiving the evidence for our records management team to review.’
However, Cook’s claim was disputed by a Danish ultrarunner, who said he was ‘surprised’ over his claim that he was the first.
Danish ultrarunner Jesper Kenn Olsen has disputed Cook’s claim that he was the first to run across the length of Africa
Jesper Kenn Olsen began his challenge on December 28 2008 in Taba, Egypt, before a 7,948-mile journey to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, completing 434 running days before finishing in March 2010.
‘This is more about getting the facts correct and therefore, it’s very nice that a lot of media were quite quick to pick up on that there was something to research on this,’ he said.
‘For me, it’s not so much about whether I’m the first or second or what have you, because obviously, for us, the main thing is the runs around the world.
‘It’s much more important that you keep the honour than whether you are number one, two or three. However, as far as I understand, he’s definitely the fastest.’
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
Mail Online
