‘I ran the length of Africa – what’s next?’ ‘Hardest Geezer’ announces 2025 project

Russ Cook – aka the ‘Hardest Geezer’ – has revealed his brand new project for 2025 to follow his epic feat which saw him run the entire length of Africa.

The 27-year-old from Worthing covered more than 16,000 kilometres over 352 days through 16 different countries on his epic African adventure.

He overcame an armed robbery, visa issues and health scares as he ran from South Africa’s most southerly point to cross the finish line in Tunisia nearly a year later (in April this year), in the process raising over £1million for charity.

‘Overcoming challenging adventures’

There’s been much speculation as to what might come next and he’s just revealed all on his YouTube channel, which has over 250,000 subscribers and enabled so many to follow along as he ran across Africa.

The launch video is embedded below and Cook explained: “I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can use this page we’ve built to have a positive and meaningful impact on this big old rock floating through space that we find ourselves on.

“I’m not the geezer to bring world peace or solve world hunger, but I know a couple things about adventures. Which is why I’ve set up Hardest Adventures to take you lot on life changing adventures all around the world, for free.

“Overcoming challenging adventures has massively changed my life. They’ve allowed me to connect with amazing people, see the immense beauty in this world, and figure out a few things about myself too. I want to try and support that adventure in as many of you lot as possible.

“I’m absolutely buzzing that we’ll be taking a group of you up Mount Kilimanjaro (tallest mountain in Africa) to get the party started. There will be plenty more to come after this as well.”

‘A transformative experience’

The sign up page for those interested says: “This is much more than a climb, it is a transformative experience.

​”Sign up with your email to be emailed a full itinerary of the adventure along with application details when they go live on 11th October 2024.

​”No mountaineering experience required. All applications welcomed.”

The Head of Operations for the new initative will be Guus van Veen, who was Head of Logistics on ‘Project Africa’, while Jamie Carson will again be the filmmaker following his engaging behind-the-scenes videos from Cook’s African odyssey.