Russ Cook (Hardest Geezer): I Haven't Told The Whole Truth About Africa!, They Took Me Into The Jungle To Kill Me!

What does it take to become the Hardest Geezer and run 9,940-miles in 352 days?
Russ Cook, also known as the ‘Hardest Geezer’, is an ultra-endurance athlete and the first person to run the entire length of Africa, raising over £1 million for charity. He is also the first person to run from Asia to London.
In this conversation Russ and Steven discuss topics such as, his childhood and difficult teenage years, hitting rock bottom, wanting more from life, being robbed at gun point, and the struggles of being the first man to run across the length Africa.

00:00 Intro
02:00 Russ' Childhood & Being Rebellious
05:50 Relationship With My Parents
12:00 Trying To Get People’s Attention
16:42 Distancing Himself from Family
16:22 The Impact of Russ' Girlfriend
19:11 Moving Out as a Teenager
21:02 Going Down the Wrong Path
25:10 Russ' Mental Health
26:18 What Would Russ Say to His Younger Self
30:52 Russ' Epiphany
32:09 The Feeling of Progressing in Life
35:07 Travelling the World Running
35:53 First Challenges
36:51 Doing Things That Aren’t Considered Normal
39:03 Returning from the First Trip
42:26 Relationship with His Dad
44:09 Burying Himself Alive
44:33 Russ DM’d Steven Before Going To Africa
46:40 Why Africa?
48:40 Meeting His Girlfriend Before Leaving to Africa
52:41 How Have You Changed
54:52 Preparations to Run the Entire Length of Africa
01:03:25 Getting Robbed
01:03:26 Being Kidnapped
01:10:05 Facing Death
01:24:14 Team Struggles
01:31:52 Was Quitting an Option?
01:36:18 Visa Issues
01:37:59 Nearing the End
01:45:12 Crossing the Line
01:45:44 What’s Next?
01:50:41 What Was the Goal?
01:55:36 Russ Inspiring Others
01:59:20 The Last Guest Question

You can donate to Russ’s charity fundraiser here: https://bit.ly/3Wr2WJR

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The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett is a podcast hosted by Steven Bartlett, the CEO of the social media management company, Social Chain. The podcast features Bartlett's reflections on his experiences as a CEO, as well as interviews with other business leaders and entrepreneurs. The show provides insights into the challenges and opportunities of running a successful business, as well as the personal journeys of its guests. The Diary of a CEO is known for its honest and candid discussions on the realities of being a CEO, and is aimed at helping listeners understand the inner workings of successful businesses.

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I was a broke, university dropout, at 18 I built an industry leading social media marketing company, and at 27 I resigned as CEO. At 28 I co-founded Flight Story – a marketing and communications company, and thirdweb - a software platform, making it easy to build web3 applications. I then launched private equity fund, Flight Fund, to accelerate the next generation of European unicorns. During this time I decided to launch 'The Diary Of A CEO' podcast with the simple mission of providing an unfiltered journey into the remarkable stories and untold dimensions of the world’s most influential people, experts and thinkers.

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• No. of episodes: 667
• Latest episode: 2025-05-09
• Business Society & Culture

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