In April , Cook became the first person to run the entire length of Africa from the southernmost to the northernmost point of the continent as part of Project Africa. In , [ 6 ] he set the world record for the fastest marathon run whilst pulling a car, in 9 hours, 56 minutes. In , Cook was buried alive for 7 days with just 20 litres of water and a ventilation tube. The event was livestreamed. Cook then ran to Frankfurt and Cologne before returning to Gelsenkirchen.
England progressed through the quarter and semi-finals, taking Cook to Dusseldorf, Dortmund and Berlin for the final. The project was sponsored by Sports Direct and Score Draw, a clothing brand.
On 22 April , Cook began Project Africa , planning to run the entire length of the African continent. As of August , Cook is the only known person to have ever run the entire length of Africa from the continent's southernmost to northernmost point. Starting from Cape Agulhas, South Africa , Cook traveled approximately miles 16, km through 16 countries along the western coast of Africa to reach the most northerly point in Bizerte, Tunisia. The full list of countries Cook traversed in order of first entry is as follows: [ 15 ].
The route included an extended stint through an extremely rural section of the Saharan desert in Mauritania along unpaved roads. Cook had originally planned to run from Tunisia to South Africa, however, due to Algerian visa issues he was forced to invert the route and travel from south to north.
Whilst Cook was alone for much of the running he was supported by a crew throughout the project, meeting with them at least twice a day for breaks as well to sleep. Due to this requirement many of the crew members were photographers and filmmakers.
