Hardest Geezer, aka Russ Cook, has revealed he still checked in on the Albion’s scores while running the length of Africa.
The 27-year-old ran from Cape Agulhas, South Africa to Ras Angela, Tunisia, in 352 days, raising over £1 million – during which time he would keep tabs on how Albion fared at home and in Europe.
He is currently walking from Wembley to Germany and hopes to complete the 352-mile trip in time to watch England's opening game in Euro 2024 against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday night.
Speaking about his experiences in Africa, Russ said, “I went through loads of periods with no phone signal and I was really busy but I did keep tabs on the team. It was crazy to see Brighton in the top half of the Premier League. It's not been that way for basically my entire life.
"I remember my granddad used to be at the Goldstone watching them. He went to Gillingham, all of that stuff. So it's crazy to be an established Premier League side, incredible stuff.”
Russ posted regularly on social media throughout his trip, often wearing different football shirts throughout the journey.
“In all the different countries I ran through we'd meet locals and they'd give me football shirts. I've got quite a decent collection now, even quite rare ones like Mauritania.
“The Nigerians make good footy kids. Their whole fashion is top stuff, really amazing. Lots of the countries we visited have had a massive football culture.”
The kindness of strangers proved pivotal in helping him reaching the finish line.
“So many locals were nice to us at so many points. Some of them knew who we were and some didn't have a clue. We'd be in rural Cameroon or rural Congo and bowl up after I'd finished running for the day. We'd be in a village and we'd say, ‘Can we camp here?
“I remember one night we stopped in a rural village, it was back to basics with buildings made of wood and tin huts but they still invited us in. A guy came with some beers and we sat around and had a good laugh.”
As you’d expect, though, Russ did have periods of self-doubt.
“Some mornings I'd think, 'I'd do anything to not run today.'
“But the only way it could end was on a beach in Tunisia. So you can carry on moping about it or just get on and do it.
“One of my biggest tactics in getting these kind of things done is to put so many different layers in there which made it hard to quit, like raising money for causes I really care about."
Despite the result, it was a pleasure to welcome @HardestGeezer to the Amex. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/jIJ39fHyOZ
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) April 26, 2024
“On the Africa trip I invested every single penny and more that I had into doing it, so I had to finish. A group of people that I'd brought along invested all their own time so I had to finish it for them and for everyone at home."
You can listen to Russ’s full interview on the Official Brighton & Hove Albion Podcast here.