Russell Cook runs from South Africa to Tunisia, completing 385 marathons. On the 16,200 kilometer route he defies health problems, bandits and bureaucracy.
After almost a year, more than 16,200 kilometers and 385 marathons, Russell Cook reaches the finish line in Ras ben Sakka, Tunisia.
Jordan Core / Instagram
He wanted to spend Christmas at home in Worthing in the south of England. Instead, Russell Cook finds himself on a country road in Guinea over the holidays. His accompanying crew bought a chicken at the market and is roasting it on the campfire. Cook, 27, is running from South Africa to Tunisia. It is impossible to establish an exact schedule for such an adventure.
More than three months later, Cook has done it. On Sunday evening the Brit reached the northern tip of Tunisia. Almost a year has passed since the launch in Cape Town. During this time, Cook ran more than 16,200 kilometers. He has completed 385 marathons, crossing savannahs, steppes, the rainforest and the Sahara. At the finish he says: “I’m a little tired.”
Dozens of runners accompany him on the last section. With his adventure, Cook reaches millions of people on social networks. Even the International Olympic Committee congratulated him on Instagram.
It all starts with a night of drinking
The story of this run begins seven years ago with a lack of prospects. Cook, then 20 years old, got by with odd jobs, losing his wages on slot machines or leaving it at the bar in a pub. After a night of drinking, he staggers out of a bar and runs 20 kilometers home. The next morning he is proud of this achievement. Cook has found perspective. He signs up for a half marathon, runs his first marathon, runs from Istanbul to London. He turns his life around.
When Cook announced in January 2023 that he wanted to be the first person to walk through Africa, many thought he was crazy. Nevertheless, he starts running – after having to change direction at the last moment. Algeria denies him a visa, so he starts in South Africa. Before the start he says: “I’m a normal guy. If I can do it, I hope that many people can apply this to their own lives.” Of course, 99 percent of them wouldn’t run across Africa. But: “Maybe they will pursue their dreams a little more strongly.”
Cook pursues his own dream uncompromisingly. He says: “I always want to improve myself, recharge my batteries, work on myself.” After two months, he and his accompanying crew are in Angola. Suddenly a car stops on the side of the road and bandits rob the adventurers at gunpoint. Everything is gone: passports, cash, credit cards.
In 385 marathons across Africa
Blood in the urine and vomiting on the side of the road – but Cook jokes about it
The longer Cook is on the road, the more his body rebels. At one point he had blood in his urine. He keeps running. In Cameroon he suffers from food poisoning and vomits on the side of the road. He keeps running. Then, after 200 days of running, Cook in Nigeria suffered such severe back pain that he was hospitalized. The doctors advise giving up. Cook thinks that as long as no bones are broken, it will be fine. He takes the strongest painkillers. And keeps running.
The camera is present in all of these scenes. Cook presents himself on social networks, where he calls himself “The Hardest Geezer”, the toughest guy. At no point is desperation visible in the video clips on Instagram and YouTube; Cook jokes about complaints and says things like: “It doesn’t help if I complain. All pain will pass.” Are these just slogans for perseverance?
Before running through Africa, Cook worked as a coach for Running Charity. The organization helps young people with no prospects or with psychological problems. People like Russell Cook was. Running Charity does youth work and wants to convey to young people the “power of running to strengthen mental health”. Cook collected donations for Running Charity during his African run, which raised almost a million dollars.
“Hello Algeria, if you’re listening, help me”
Alex Eagle is the founder of Running Charity and a friend of Cook. He told British media that he was worried at times. But: “Every time we spoke on the phone, he was positive and grateful for the experience.”
Despite this attitude, Cook threatens to despair shortly before the goal. The visa problem with Algeria has still not been solved and the authorities are stubborn. Cook stands still; the running adventure threatens to fail.
He appealed to the Algerian state on social networks. «Hello Algeria, if you’re listening, help me. It’s brutal that I can no longer determine the success of my project myself,” says Cook in a video that has been viewed eleven million times on X. Elon Musk, the owner of X, shares it, British parliamentarians get involved, which brings it to the attention of the Algerian embassy in London. Cook gets the visa.
A strawberry daiquiri at the finish and then the London Marathon
After entering Algeria, he struggled again with the “usual” problems. He says he feels destroyed, his body is all pain. There is also a snowstorm and later sandstorms. Cook puts on diving goggles, protects his mouth with a folded T-shirt and continues on to Tunisia.
On the last stretch he keeps crying. He is looking forward to his family and his girlfriend, whom he has not seen in almost a year. After crossing the finish line he says: “It was a mystical experience. Now we’re going to celebrate, I want a strawberry daiquiri. It is going to be great.”
After the party, Cook will continue running. In just two weeks he will be starting the London Marathon with a group of young people.