



A fat teenager with alcohol and gambling problems was on the skids and descending into depression when he had a flash of enlightenment in a realization he had to do something with his life and make a difference. He started running, entering his first half marathon when he was 21.
Now at 27 he is a hardened endurance runner, recently going from Istanbul to London, averaging 46km per day for 66 days. Today he is expected to complete his most ambitious run yet from the southern tip of South Africa the entire length of Africa to Tunisia. For more than 10,190 miles (16,400km), 352 days, 16 countries, he endured food poisoning, back and health problems, sweltering heat, being taken hostage and being the victim of armed robbery. In all he has raised more than £550,000 The Running Charity, which supports the mental health of young people with complex needs or who are homeless, and Sandblast which educates people about Sahrawi culture.
Russ Cook, 13 March 1997, Worthing, England, no birth time, is a Sun, Mercury in Pisces opposition Mars in Virgo North Node, sexile/trine Neptune. Although it seems counter-intuitive Pisces is a surprisingly common sign amongst explorers and a strong Neptune occurs frequently in the charts of top athletes and sportspersons. He also probably has an Earth Grand Trine of Neptune trine Mars North Node trine a Taurus Moon. Plus a tough-minded Saturn in self-reliant Aries trine Pluto, sextiling onto a lucky, adventurous Jupiter Uranus conjunction combining endurance with an aptitude for risk-taking.
What brought the revelation that pushed him onto a better track in life? When he was 17 his Solar Arc Pluto was square his Sun, forming a T Square to his Sun opposition Mars – a longish process of six years when he could have felt totally trapped and boxed in – and he sounds as if he sank into a trough at the start. What kicked him out of it was his Solar Arc Jupiter Uranus sextile SA Saturn moving to inconjunct his Mars, forming a travelling yod.
His Jupiter Uranus is lucky – his Mars gives him drive, practicality and aptitude for hard graft. His Mars on one leg of a talented Earth Grand Trine gives him the potential to achieve great things but clearly needed a shunt from the universe to click it into gear.
So his natal Saturn trine Pluto, sextile Jupiter Uranus configuration moving by Solar Arc to collide with his Sun opposition Mars did provide a life changing crisis – by kicking him out of his rut and making him find his niche. And off he went.
He could have so easily gone the way of many lost druggy teenagers and never found his way. It is fascinating and uplifting to see how the astrology shifted to give him the insight and motivation he needed to find his very singular path.
He started this trans-Africa run on 22 April 2023 in Agulhas, South Africa. On a 6.30am sunrise chart that puts Jupiter on the Aries Ascendant conjunct a Taurus Sun with both square Pluto just into Aquarius in the 10th, which seems apt.