The original 'Hardest Geezer' speaks out: Briton who was the first to run ... trends now
A British businessman and former model has spoken out about how he was the first person in history to run the length of Africa - almost 30 years ago.
Nicholas Bourne, 54, has emerged as the original 'Hardest Geezer' who completed the incredible endurance feat 26 years before Russ Cook capped off his mammoth journey on Sunday.
Fellow Brit Mr Bourne, who ran 7,499 miles across the continent in just 318 days in 1998, was quick to offer his congratulations to his 27-year-old successor despite his own achievement having been overlooked.
Cook's staggering 9,891 mile achievement sparked worldwide coverage as he was thought to be the first person in history to have run the length of Africa.
But it later emerged that the extraordinary endurance feat had already been done twice before - in 2010 by a Danish runner as well as Mr Bourne.
Russ Cook, 27, celebrated on Sunday after running more than 10,000 miles in 352 days from Cape Agulhas in South Africa to Ras Angela in Tunisia
Nicholas Bourne, 54, pictured while running the length of Africa back in 1998. He completed the endurance feat in 318 days from 21 January to 5 December 1998, covering over 12,069 km
Mr Bourne was quick to offer his congratulations to Cook, who is the third man to run the length of Africa
Mr Bourne, now a successful businessman, told MailOnline today: 'I would like to congratulate Russ on completing an incredible challenge and I hope he receives the recognition he deserves and inspires others to undertake their own challenge and meet some incredible people along the way.'
Modest Mr Bourne brushed off any suggestion that his own nineties achievement, which saw him run 7,499 miles from from South Africa to Egypt, had been overlooked, saying: 'It was a long time ago so there's no reason Russ would have necessarily been aware.
'I have attempted a few ultra records, both running and cycling, and the landscape has changed in that 30 years ago there was no governing body so the takeaway from this is that anyone planning a record should contact the sport's governing body.
'And governing bodies should make contact with the Guinness book of records as they are still often the first point of contact.
'I hope that more people can be inspired to undertake travel in this way……it is an incredible experience that affords some insight into the day to day challenges of individuals and communities in different parts of our incredibly beautiful world that we need to look after better than we do.'
Earlier Jesper Olsen, who ran the route in 2010, had been rather less
