Why we should toast James Cracknell’s new relationship

My great friend James Cracknell has been accused of middle-life crisis behaviour: new young girlfriend. New tattoo. Motorbike. Running marathons. Going on Strictly.

But it’s an easy cliché. Cracknell was – and still is – a sporting freak. He has two Olympic gold medals. He is the 17th fastest person to complete the notorious Marathon des Sables, which involves six marathons back-to-back across the Sahara desert. At 45, he ran the London Marathon in 2 hr

43 min, and this year was part of Cambridge’s winning Boat Race crew, making him its oldest ever competitor; one of his teammates’ dads was younger than him.

None of this is classic midlifecrisis territory – it is what sporting legends do.

Even more astonishing is that, just a few years ago, Cracknell nearly died in an accident that left him critically brain-damaged. He was told he would never be the same again. James has spent nearly a decade defying the doctors and resisting being labelled an “injured” man.

At the time of his brain injury, it threatened to define him. There were acres of press coverage about it, which threatened to undermine “James the athlete”.

When we walked across the desert together, we did so with a medic in tow (a BBC health and safety stipulation, in case he suffered adverse affects from the heat and dehydration due to his head trauma). After he was approached to appear on I’m a

Celebrity…, he was turned down due to concerns about his mental health.

Even I was culpable of ableism when I decided that climbing Everest with him might be too risky; I was wrong. James is a fighter. His is not a story of midlife crisis. It’s more like survivor syndrome.

My wife Marina defines midlife crisis behaviour as anything selfish, any behaviour that overshadows the family. Such as, if I went out cycling in Lycra for eight hours every Saturday. If you are Cracknell, though, this is acceptable because he is a sportsman. Sure, he might be retired from professional sport, but competition runs in his blood. It’s who he is.

We as a society should be championing such behaviour. We should be applauding the ability of a 47-year-old to run marathons faster than younger athletes. It’s why the lines can become blurred about what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour.

Sadly, his marriage collapsed after 17 years, and that is a tragedy. Both he and his former wife, Beverley, fought to save their marriage. But, statistically, more than three-quarters of those who sustain life-changing head injuries will end up divorced.

James now has a new girlfriend. She might be younger, but so what? If he has found happiness again, let us wish him luck and congratulate him. Because some of us like to follow a script, but others follow the heart.