Moment 184: I Was Kidnapped Whilst Running The Entire Length Of Africa: Russ Cook

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Business, Education

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2024

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

He became the first person to run the full length of Africa—10,000 miles in 352 days—but just after day 100, Russ Cook, aka the Hardest Geezer, faced the toughest challenge of his life. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Russ found himself running through chaos, dodging violence, and literally outrunning men armed with machetes. With threats of kidnapping looming and his life on the line, he managed to escape and keep pushing forward. Months later, after enduring sandstorms in the Sahara, crossing rainforests, and navigating endless stretches of empty road, Russ finally completed his journey. Starting in Cape Agulhas, South Africa, and finishing in Tunisia, he covered the equivalent of 386 marathons. Throughout the journey, Russ faced life-threatening dangers—armed robberies, kidnappers, and harsh terrains. But the craziest part? After all those miles, he realised what he’d really been running from—and had to face it head on. His story isn’t just about running. It’s for anyone facing their fears, questioning their path, or trying to break free from what’s been holding them back—because that was him too. Russ unpacks all of this, and more, in his book HARDEST GEEZER: Mind Over Miles. Out now. Buy Russ’ Book Here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hardest-Geezer-Mind-over-Miles/dp/1529945925/?maas=maas_adg_8E255B02CEB8C776ADC02ACF423C188A_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas Listen to the full episode here - Spotify- https://g2ul0.app.link//TIVYc9ZjNu Apple - https://g2ul0.app.link//JZiObXaBXNb Watch the Episodes On Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/%20TheDiaryOfACEO/videos

Transcript

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0:00.0	Quick one, just wanted to say a big thank you to three people very quickly.
0:03.1	First people I want to say thank you to is all of you that listen to the show.
0:05.7	Never in my wildest dreams is all I can say. Never in my wildest dreams, so I think I'd start a
0:10.0	podcast in my kitchen and that it would expand all over the world as it has done.
0:14.6	And we've now opened our first studio in America, thanks to my very helpful team,
0:19.2	led by Jack on the production side of things.
0:20.8	So thank you to Jack and the team for building out the new
0:23.1	American studio and thirdly to Amazon Music who when they heard that we were
0:26.8	expanding to the United States and I'd be recording a lot more over in the
0:29.9	states they put a massive billboard in Times Square for the show.
0:34.1	So thank you so much Amazon Music.
0:36.9	Thank you to our team and thank you to all of you that listen to this show.
0:39.2	Let's continue. Hi there, no it's not Stephen. So who is it? Well I'm pretty into running and I've just
0:47.9	come back from a little jog across Africa. Yep it's me Russ Cook, aka the Hardest Gieser.
0:53.8	At 22, I became the first person to run from Asia to London,
0:57.2	and earlier this year I became the first person
0:59.3	to run the length of Africa, 10,000 miles across 16 countries in
1:03.1	352 days.
1:04.6	I ran 386 consecutive marathons
1:07.0	through mountains and desert, survived armed robberies
1:09.7	and even escaped kidnap.
1:11.0	But the craziest part, after all those miles I realized what I've been running
	...

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