Editor’s Note (May 10, 2025, 19:35): Following the publication of this story, Russ Cook resumed posting on Strava after a hiatus of 13 days. His latest activities—albeit still missing GPS data and metrics—can now be viewed on his Strava profile.
Russ Cook, the British ultrarunner and social media influencer better known as the Hardest Geezer, has built a following by pushing the limits of human endurance — and broadcasting the journey to millions.
After claiming to be the first person to run the full length of Africa (finishing a year-long journey last April), he’s now in the final stages of a similarly ambitious effort: running the entire length of New Zealand, from the southern tip of the South Island to Cape Reinga at the northernmost point, sharing his journey with his vast social media following, including the minutia of his daily runs on Strava.
But in recent weeks, the data trail that made him famous has gone silent — and a growing chorus of followers, skeptics, and endurance athletes are asking why.
The Business of Extreme Runfluencing
Cook’s current effort is more than a personal challenge. It’s a brand partnership, powered in no small part by his vast social media reach: 1.2 million followers on Instagram, more than 280,000 on TikTok, 338,000 on X and more than 142,000 followers on Strava, making him one of the most influential runners on the endurance sports platform. According to social media monitoring site Inflact.com, Cook currently holds the 71st largest Instagram account of any athlete globally.
His follower count surged during his year-long Africa run, where daily updates and a compelling endurance narrative helped transform him from a niche ultrarunner into a mainstream figure. His daily feats of running through dust storms, being robbed at gunpoint and allegedly even occasionally fuelling with snake and monkey meat lifted Cook from anonymity into having a lucrative platform by the time he finished his African crossing.
That transformation was accelerated by a wave of “earned media” — valuable traction from trusted news outlets that doesn’t cost anything to the person benefiting from the attention, and the most coveted form of attention for brands.
Cook was first covered by running-focused publications (including Marathon Handbook) and soon after by major outlets like the BBC and the Associated Press. The volume and prestige of the media attention significantly raised his public profile, and with it, his marketability.
That growth has parlayed into a potentially highly profitable opportunity: large accounts like Cook’s can reportedly command tens of thousands of dollars per sponsored post. Influencer Marketing Hub, for example, estimates that creators with over 1 million followers can earn between $10,000 and $25,000 per Instagram post, depending on engagement and brand alignment. By contrast, lesser known yet more decorated extreme ultra endurance athletes struggle to earn a living wage solely as runners.
Cook is also now listed as a paid public speaker, represented by Chartwell Speakers — an international agency whose roster includes Magic Johnson, Tony Hawk, Mo Farah, Mitt Romney and the former prime ministers of Israel, Sweden, Spain and Estonia. His ability to turn online attention into commercial and professional capital is clear.
Though financial details have not been disclosed, Cook’s current run is not charitable. It’s just the opposite: a promotional campaign backed by 100% Pure New Zealand, the country’s tourism authority.
In the lucrative world of social media influence, such deals can bring in six figures or more. Multi-month projects like this — involving a support crew, gear, media coordination, and international logistics — are expensive to produce and require substantial startup costs.
A Different Kind of Challenge
In contrast to his year-long traverse across Africa — a chaotic and often communal effort in which Cook was frequently joined by other runners and documented his daily progress with spontaneous, unfiltered updates — the New Zealand project has been notably more reserved.
His posts have focused on scenic landscapes and cultural moments, most of which are labeled as advertisements in accordance with platform disclosure rules. The tone has shifted from adventurous to transactional, with posts that feel less exploratory and more contractual — as if fulfilling a daily quota rather than inviting the audience along for the ride.
Part of Cook’s brand — and a major reason why so many follow him online — is his ability to soldier on, day after day, often covering distances greater than a marathon. He’s built a persona around relentless endurance and tongue-in-cheek toughness. On April 10, for instance, he posted to Instagram celebrating a 100-kilometer (62-mile) day by chugging a beer on camera and smashing the can on his head.
Then, on April 30, he teased an even more extreme goal: attempting to run 200 kilometers (124 miles) in a single day by going for 24 hours straight (something he has not yet attempted, at least at the time of publication). These kinds of stunts help maintain his image as both a genuine endurance athlete and a self-aware showman. Actually achieving these feats are the reason why people pay attention to Cook. They are the currency of his brand and his value to marketers, so long as he is able to maintain a large audience.
And many runners want to see receipts.
The Data Delay
Cook began the New Zealand challenge with daily uploads to Strava, sharing detailed metrics: pace, heart rate, cadence, and GPS mapping, all tracked via his Garmin Enduro 2 watch, a $1,000 USD device designed specifically for extreme, ultra distance and off-grid excursions. It leverages enhanced GPS and “SATIQ” technology, making it accurate even in remote and mountainous terrain.
His early posts arrived with a delay of a few days, with no maps or detailed tracking data, which caused a few followers on Strava to question Cook. He explained in a March 19 comment that this was due to syncing issues and Garmin’s navigation mode.
In response, multiple runners on social media pointed out that they had the same watch as Cook, and that the Enduro 2 wouldn’t omit specific data metrics in this case.
Day1
— Trails & Ales (@TrailsAndAlesUK) March 12, 2025
Hi @hardestgeezer just wondering why you are recording your runs as workout activities? No gps, no pace, no cadence.
Looks like you have a high end garmin watch that would do the job.
Wouldn’t want people thinking you are not actually doing these challenges legitimately! https://t.co/qRM2YUcsrA
Cook’s responses then became standoffish and dismissive of these followers’ questions and concerns, blocking some users.
That shift in tone is mirrored in how Cook has managed his data. Even during that early delay, his precise whereabouts were untraceable in real time.
For local runners hoping to join him for a few kilometers, or fans aiming to cheer him on along the route, there was no way to locate him. It’s a sharp contrast to his previous runs, where public tracking was a core part of the experience — and a key part of how he built community around the feat.
But that transparency stopped abruptly after Cook faced increased scrutiny from followers online.
Since April 23, Cook’s Strava posts have shown only total distance and average pace — stripped of the telemetry that runners and skeptics alike had been poring over.
His last post at time of publication was April 27, and included no route data.
He has continued posting to Instagram and X, acknowledging in one April 30 tweet that he’s been managing “all kinds of niggles,” and noting on May 7 that his “right leg has been giving all sorts of grief over the last week but I’ve been forcing the issue and she’s finally coming back around.” There has been no official explanation for the missing Strava data. His May 7 post placed him near the town of Hamilton, but without the usual tracking, followers were left to take his word for it.
A Surge of Speculation
As the data began to dry up, some longtime followers began to question what was happening. Why had the uploads stopped?
Why no more maps?
Why, some asked, did the heart rate data from previous posts not appear to correlate with the significant elevation Cook was reportedly tackling?
More detailed scrutiny revealed further anomalies. Users noticed:
- Heart rate trends that remained flat despite varied, steep terrain
- Abrupt, simultaneous changes in heart rate, pace, and cadence — which some speculated could indicate activity switches or stops
- Cadence and stride data suggesting a running stride length of over six feet — nearly triple the average
Max speed 9.2mph.. 6:31/mile
— Assent Performance (@SteAssent) March 15, 2025
Max cadence 125 spm
Assumin theyre at the same point.
gives him a stride length of 6.48feet per step…. pic.twitter.com/1Z8Lo2WSmb
Not to get involved in conspiracies. BUT saw this one. Looks awfully like a little bit of running and then jumping on a bike or so followed by a bit more
— Andrew Woodroffe (@andrewwoodroffe) March 15, 2025
Jogging? pic.twitter.com/UnnKWQyBfS
Cook has never directly addressed these observations. When one user on X questioned the irregular Strava uploads, Cook blocked them.
Max speed 9.2mph.. 6:31/mile
— Assent Performance (@SteAssent) March 15, 2025
Max cadence 125 spm
Assumin theyre at the same point.
gives him a stride length of 6.48feet per step…. pic.twitter.com/1Z8Lo2WSmb
In another exchange, he responded to those questioning why he didn’t just share all of his watch data on Strava for each run by accusing critics of being “Twitter trolls” and excused his lack of transparency because “I ain’t a watch nerd.”
That defence hasn’t gone over well. In the deeply metrics-driven world of endurance running, refusing to engage with concerns — especially when you’ve built your following on daily, transparent data — doesn’t just frustrate fans. It fuels speculation.
Image and Influence
Cook’s rise over the last year has been remarkable — and heavily curated. After completing his run across Africa, he released a book, Mind Over Miles, appeared on UK talk shows, and even ran through London with then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a PR stunt.
He later launched Hardest Adventures, a travel venture offering “extreme endurance trips,” which, so far, has run one expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro. The company currently lists no upcoming trips.
Meanwhile, his latest New Zealand endeavor is a fully sponsored campaign, and that context matters.
Given that backdrop, the sudden retreat from transparency has struck many as odd. Why would an athlete backed by a national tourism board, engaged in a high-visibility branding campaign, suddenly stop sharing proof of performance?
We contacted Cook’s team via Instagram on Thursday, May 8, for comment. As of publication, they had not responded.
A Familiar Controversy
This is not the first time Cook has faced questions about the validity of his achievements.
After he completed his Africa run in April 2024, the World Runners Association challenged his claim of being the first to do so. The group pointed to Danish runner Jesper Olsen, who they say ran the length of Africa in 2010, from Taba, Egypt to the Cape of Good Hope, as part of a larger world circumnavigation.
Cook addressed the controversy during a live appearance on Good Morning Britain, telling host Ed Balls: “I haven’t heard anything about it to be fair. But there’s plenty of people before me who have done lots of big runs and kudos to all of them… so nothing but respect really.”
Still, Cook continues to present himself as the first person to run the full length of the continent, including the claim in his social media account’s bios — a distinction that, for many, still feels unsettled.
Polarizing by Nature
While Cook’s supporters argue that he’s simply pushing human limits while raising money for good causes (his Africa run raised more than $1.3 million USD for charity), he’s become a divisive public figure.
For every follower who finds his grit inspiring, there are others turned off by what they see as self-promotion, evasiveness, or just plain overexposure. The popular Screen Rot podcast addressed the phenomenon bluntly in a 2024 episode titled: “Russ Cook aka The Hardest Geezer — Is It Just Us, Or Does Everyone Hate Him?”
His latest endeavor is largely packaged as a promotional campaign, and perhaps this has further fueled those divisions. To some, it represents a savvy branding move and a way to monetize his extraordinary efforts.
But to others, it feels like a cynical pivot: a calculated effort to cash in on the goodwill he earned during his Africa run, using that attention and media momentum to sell a slick, pre-packaged version of adventure.
The spontaneity, unpredictability, and sense of community that once defined his journey have been replaced by curated posts, marketing disclosures, and a noticeable distance from the audience that once followed him in real time.
And that remove is now causing some to wonder if Cook is even running the entirety of this New Zealand adventure.
Trust and Receipts
When Cook completes his New Zealand traverse there is little doubt he’ll frame it as another triumphant feat driven by perseverance and goodwill.
But the missing Strava data has already complicated the narrative.
Big ultrarunning quests such as this, especially when performed solely for sponsorship dollars, relies heavily on trust. When that trust is built on daily updates, GPS breadcrumbs, and heart rate graphs, turning off the tap without explanation invites speculation.
Cook may not be a “watch nerd,” but many of his fans are.
And many more simply want to believe.
If he wants to retain that audience (and line up his next big payday) he may need to offer more than a daily selfie eating a meat pie and a caption disclosing that it’s just an ad. He may need to offer proof he’s run every step of the way.
Rob Young anyone?
All over again