A British man has raced across Africa, embarking on the final day of a grueling challenge in Tunisia.

Russ Cook, who calls himself “the hardest old man” on social media, has been running for more than 350 days and has completed the equivalent of 385 marathons.

The 26-year-old from Worthing, West Sussex, is currently running the final 40km of the 16,000km challenge, joined by hundreds of supporters.

“One day left, a final push to get this done,” he told Sky News shortly after setting off, as sports reporter Rob Harris tried to follow.

Mr Cook said he had shed “a few tears” this morning but had gotten it out of his system.

“352 days on the road is a long time without seeing my family or my girlfriend. My body is in pain, but I only have one day and I’m not going to complain.”

He said that if he completes the challenge, he will become the first person to complete the entire African race.

In April 2023, he began his journey from Cape Agulhas, South Africa, the southernmost tip of the African continent.

Mr. Cook was Raise funds for two charities Along the way, there has been a recent surge in donations.

In the past seven days he has raised more than £217,000 of a total of £568,000.

He is raising money for The Running Charity, which supports the mental health of young people with complex needs or who are homeless, and Sandblast, which aims to educate people about Sahrawi culture.

But his journey hasn’t always been easy.

In Angola, he and his team were robbed at gunpoint. Their cameras, mobile phones and passports were stolen.

Then in August, Mr. Cook disappeared. He was separated from his supporters for days in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They eventually freed him by bribing villagers armed with machetes.

In January, he turned to social media in hopes of obtaining a visa to enter Algeria from the Mauritanian border.

At the time, he said his challenge might end without a visa because he had “no other way” to reach the northern tip of Africa.

“To be honest, everything is up in the air,” he posted.

After a massive social media campaign, the Algerian embassy said it would issue him a courtesy visa “on the spot”, meaning he could cross the border.

While crossing Africa was his biggest challenge, it wasn’t his first.

At the age of 22, Mr Cook ran from Asia to the UK, completing 71 marathons in 66 days.

He had only run the Brighton Marathon before he decided to run from Asia to the UK.