Russ Cook

Russell Cook (born 13 March 1997), also known as Hardest Geezer, is an English endurance athlete from Worthing, West Sussex. In April 2024, Cook became the first person to run the entire length of Africa from the southernmost to the northernmost point of the continent as part of Project Africa.

Early life and education Cook was born in Worthing, West Sussex, attended Vale school in Findon before attending Worthing High School and Worthing College.

Career In 2019, Cook ran from Istanbul, Turkey, to Worthing, England, in 68 days with no support team. The course covered approximately 2,900 km (1,800 miles). In 2020, he set the world record for the fastest marathon run whilst pulling a car, in 9 hours, 56 minutes.

Running the length of Africa

alt=A map of Africa showing the route taken by Russ Cook during his Project Africa run. The route segments for each day are shown in alternating colours, against a background map showing the land cover, country outlines, and major cities. Map of Cook’s running route across Africa, showing his daily progress.

On 22 April 2023, Cook began Project Africa, planning to run the entire length of the African continent. He began in Cape Agulhas, South Africa, the southernmost point, and ended in Cape Angela, Tunisia, the northernmost point on 7 April 2024. Starting from Cape Agulhas, South Africa, in April 2023, it took Cook 352 days and approximately 10,190 miles (16,400 km) to reach the most northerly point of Africa in Bizerte, Tunisia, on 7 April 2024. Although initially planning to complete the feat in 240 days, complications with visas, injury, armed robbery, and kidnapping led to the attempt taking over three months longer. As of August 2024, Cook is the only known person ever to have run the entire length of Africa from the continent's southernmost to northernmost point.

The project was fundraising for two charities, The Running Charity and Sandblast, and exceeded its £1,000,000 goal on 24 April 2024. As part of his endeavour he raised money for the Running Charity, who offer running and mental health programmes to people who are struggling, as well as the charity Sandblast who support the indigenous Saharawi population of Western Sahara. Cook took on the challenge because he had faced mental health issues, gambling addiction, and struggles with alcoholism.

Route Starting from Cape Agulhas, South Africa, Cook traveled approximately 10190 miles (16,400 km) through 16 countries along the western coast of Africa to reach the most northerly point in Bizerte, Tunisia. He was also subjected to several sandstorms and a snowstorm in Algeria.

Besides logistics support the crew’s primary function was to produce content for Cook’s social media channels and a biweekly YouTube series documenting the project. The initial crew consisted of: Jamie Carson, a German film editor and content producer James Ward

The crew initially lived and traveled in a modified van, nicknamed “Nelly”, but later acquired a 4×4 vehicle to traverse more challenging roads.

Following the incident, in which nobody was hurt, the team received a police escort for the remainder of their time in Angola.

Health issues During the attempt Cook suffered from multiple bouts of food poisoning as well as catching the flu.

The Algeria–Mauritania border presented particular difficulties. Cook originally planned to run from north to south, however, due to a lack of an Algerian visa, he reversed the route at the last minute.

Kidnapping On day 102 of the run Cook was separated from his support crew in rural DRC. During this time he entered a small rural settlement where he was apprehended by men armed with machetes who demanded payment. He was later taken to another village seven hours farther into the jungle where he was held in a hut for several days until his team was able to reach him and pay off his captors. Following this, Cook modified his route and traveled through Cabinda rather than continuing through the DRC. Cook later described this experience as the “scariest moment” of the project and stated that “Probably for about one minute (I) thought about quitting, and then I realized I couldn't, so that was about as close as it got”. Due to these issues the crew also purchased a second 4×4 support vehicle.

Controversy After completing the challenge, the claim that Cook was the first to run the full length of Africa was disputed by the World Runners Association (WRA) and Nicholas Bourne. The disputes centered on differing routes and semantics. The WRA agreed that Cook was the first to run from Africa's southernmost to northernmost point but claimed that WRA member Jesper Olsen was the first to run the full length in 2010, when he ran from Taba, Egypt, to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa as part of a world run,