An English extreme marathon runner dubbed the "Hardest Geezer" has completed his run across the entire length of Africa.

Russ Cook finished his journey in Tunisia after travelling through 16 countries on a 352-day odyssey which included being robbed at gunpoint and suffering food poisoning.

Cook started his adventure last April at Africa's most southerly point, the South African village of L'Agulhas, and proceeded up the continent's west coast, running a total of more than 16,000 kilometres.

"The first person ever to run the entire length of Africa. Mission complete," Cook posted on X.

The 27-year-old passed through Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania and Algeria, before arriving at Ras Angela on Sunday evening local time.

He hoped to complete the journey in 240 days, running the equivalent of more than a marathon every day.

He and his team had money, passports and equipment stolen in a gunpoint robbery in Angola.

He was temporarily halted by back pain in Nigeria. And he was almost stopped in his tracks by the lack of a visa to enter Algeria, before diplomatic intervention from the Algerian embassy in Britain managed to secure the required documents.

The endurance athlete has also raised more than half a millions pounds for charity along the way.

"The main goal is to challenge yourself and do something incredible which is what 'Hardest Geezer' is all about," Simon Klima of Givestar charity platform told Reuters.

"Simultaneously raise a lot of money for some really important causes, that's happening on the Givestar platform, so we are very privileged to have that happening there.

"So far nearly 600,000 pounds ($1,151,000) has been raised for two charities, Sandblast and the Running charity."

Klima said he hoped the fundraiser would reach their target of a million pounds.

"It's quite hard to put into words, 352 days on the road, long time without seeing family, my girlfriend," Cook told Sky News as he started running on Sunday.

"My body is in a lot of pain. But one more day, I'm not about to complain."

Cook was accompanied by supporters on the final leg of his journey, many of whom had flown out especially to be there.

"I saw the post on Instagram where he invited everyone out. I was laying on my couch, it was a Sunday afternoon, I saw it and he said everybody can come," Warren Blake from the United States told Reuters.

"I just couldn't miss a crazy historic opportunity like this."

Cook, wearing an England football jersey, arrived at the finish to chants of "geezer, geezer".

He finished telling reporters: "I'm pretty tired."

Cook said he planned to celebrate with a party, where British band Soft Play was due to perform.

"We're going to have strawberry daiquiris on the beach tonight," he said.

"It's going to be unreal."

AP/Reuters