OLD MAN RIVER
Olympian Cracknell wants to be oldest Boat Race rower … at 46!
AT 46 he’s more than twice the age of most university students.
But that’s not going to stop James Cracknell attempting to become the oldest ever competitor in the Boat Race.
The rower, a double Olympic gold medallist, has been spotted training on the Great Ouse in Ely with his potential teammates after starting a master’s degree at Cambridge last year, making him eligible to enter the race.
Cracknell, who in 2010 suffered severe brain injuries in a road accident, wore his bright red, white and blue kit from the Sydney Olympics, standing out from the rest of his teammates in their light blue outfits. Making the most of the sunny weather, they
‘The challenge is hugely appealing’
90 minutes on the river before carrying the boat back to the boathouse.
Cracknell told the Daily Mail last year: ‘The challenge of taking on guys 25 years younger, and the race itself, is hugely appealing.’
If he is picked for the team in April, he will become the oldest man to compete in the annual race, beating Andy Probert who was 38 when he coxed Cambridge in 1992.
Cracknell, who won Olympic gold at Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004, would also become the most decorated man to row in the annual contest against Oxford.
The athlete, who is married to TV and radio presenter Beverley Turner and has three children, revealed last year that he would be going back to university to study for a master’s degree in philosophy. In a tweet, he added: ‘I’ll need the support of my amazing family to do the course and if I go for Boat Race selection support of old heart and lungs required #nevertooold.’
He has completed a series of impressive physical challenges, including a race to the South Pole, rowing across the Atlantic Ocean and trekking across the Arabian Desert. But in 2010 he was seriously injured when he was hit by a petrol tanker on a 2,500-mile ride across the United States.
The tanker was travelling at 70mph when its wing mirror smashed into his skull on a highway in Arizona. The impact crushed his frontal lobes, the part of the brain which controls personality. He was in hospital for several weeks and at first it was thought he might not survive. He went on to suffer memory loss and personality changes.