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 impressed by the claim that Cook was the first.
Mr Olsen, 52, from Copenhagen, told MailOnline last night: ‘Mr Cook is not the first and neither was I.
The World Runners Association (WRA) claimed one of their state member’s Jesper Kenn Olsen, from Denmark, also ran the length of Africa in 2010 (pictured)
Olsen (pictured during his ultramarathon) said he only learned of Cook’s challenge two weeks ago
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
‘It was Nicholas Bourne from the United Kingdom in 1998. This was before the internet was big. He ran also through Egypt and it was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records.
‘Our world with our type of runners is very small.
‘It is not done that you try to ignore other people who have done that run.
‘The first person to run the length of Africa was Nicholas Bourne from the UK and it was ratified by the Guinness Book of Records.
‘I must be sure to say that I definitely have respect for the run (by Mr Cook) and there should be no doubt that it is a very impressive run. There is no doubt that it is not that.
‘It is a huge effort that he has done. But it is a little like somebody saying they have broken the 10,000m record when they haven’t.
Olsen said he only learned of Cook’s challenge two weeks ago.
Fellow World Runners Association member Marie Leautey said the group were made aware of it only one month ago and attempted to contact him before releasing their statement.
Ms Leautey, 46, praised Cook’s effort but added that she she does not want her friend Olsen’s achievement to be ‘written off from history’.
Cook, 27, (pictured) celebrated on Sunday as he completed his 10,100 miles from Cape Agulhas in South Africa to Ras Angela, Tunisia, in 352 days
Cook drinking a strawberry daiquiri as he sits on a throne after completing his final race
Ms Leautey, a finance consultant based in London, added: ‘It’s not really about claiming a title or a claim for glory or recognition, it’s just a fact-checking thing and it has to do with sportsmanship.
‘We are a small community, only seven of us, we all appreciate the people who have done it before us because they are the ones that have made it possible for us to do.
‘Cook has done a fantastic run and we really want to applaud him for it and say congratulations, but we also don’t want Jesper’s run to be written off from history because it doesn’t feel right.’
She said the running group received an online backlash for claiming Olsen’s run predates Cook’s challenge.
In 1998, the BBC reported on Mr Bourne’s run which began in South Africa and ended at the Pyramids in Cairo.
Bourne ‘braved deserts, floods, war zones and wild animals to complete’ the endurance test, the BBC said.
He was raising money for the charities Born Free and Save the Children.
The 6ft.4in former model said at the time: ‘I wanted something else in my life. I also wanted to highlight some of the things that I felt were necessary to highlight, about conservation and about education for children.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk