Russ Cook: what running across Africa does to the human body

By Dan Gordon, Associate Professor, Cardiorespiratory Exercise Physiology, Anglia Ruskin University

A 27-year-old British man has recently accomplished the astonishing feat of running the length of Africa. Russ Cook, from Worthing, West Sussex, set out on his 16,000km (9,940 miles) run on 22 April 2023. The journey from Cape Agulhas (the most Southerly point of Africa) to Tunisia took him 352 days to complete – with the distance he ran equivalent to running 385 marathons back-to-back.

It’s undeniable that Cook’s feat goes well beyond what most people – even professional ultra-marathoners – could ever dream…

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