The double Olympic champion James Cracknell will become the oldest competitor in the history of the Boat Race next month after he was selected in the Cambridge crew on Thursday at the age of 46.
Cracknell, who became a household name when he won his first gold medal alongside Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and Tim Foster at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, will compete alongside rowers up to 25 years his junior in the annual race between Oxford and Cambridge universities on the River Thames on 7 April.
After being announced in the Cambridge line-up at London’s City Hall, Cracknell, who is studying for a Masters in human evolution and will be the most decorated rower in the race’s history with six world titles to add to his Olympic medals, described his selection as “arguably my proudest achievement in rowing”.
“I’ve had to get back to being able to move in a rowing boat,” Cracknell told the BBC. “I am seven years older than one of the guy’s dads. I stopped rowing in 2004 and haven’t rowed since.”
So here are The Men’s Boat Race 2019 Crews in full...@OUBCsquad: 719.6 KG@CUBCsquad: 718.3 KG#TheBoatRace2019 pic.twitter.com/LRKwc0NJ6y
— The Boat Race (@theboatraces) March 14, 2019
Prior to Cracknell, the oldest person to compete in The Boat Race was Cambridge coxswain Andy Probert, who was 38 in 1992. The oldest to row was Mike Whearley, who was 36 when he was selected by Oxford in 2008.
The Olympic-veteran’s journey is all the more remarkable because of his continuing recovery from a brain injury suffered in 2010. Cracknell was hit by a petrol tanker while cycling in America, causing serious injuries that left him in hospital for three months and needing to learn how to walk and talk again.
Having been part of the crew to defend the Olympic coxless fours title in Athens in 2004, Cracknell embarked upon a series of endurance challenges, including rowing the Atlantic and trekking to the South Pole with his best friend, the explorer and TV presenter, Ben Fogle.
His accident did not sate that desire to compete. Only six months afterwards Cracknell completed the Yukon Arctic Ultra, a 430-mile cycle across Canada and still regularly takes on challenges alongside Fogle.
On hearing of Cracknell’s selection yesterday/on Thursday, Fogle tweeted: “Heroes don’t all wear capes… sometimes they wear really tight Lycra and dodgy boots”, in response to images of Cracknell and his Cambridge team-mates in their kits at City Hall.
Redgrave also tweeted his congratulations to Cracknell, saying “we knew he could do it! Congratulations to @jamescracknell, watch this space for next year, I do like a broken record!”
Both the Oxford and Cambridge squads have been taking part in gruelling training schedules since September, which involve 12 sessions a week, alongside considerable academic demands. “It’s impossible to appreciate what getting selected for The Boat Race is actually like.” Cracknell added in a statement. “Training so intensively and competing with a group of guys for the same seats in a boat whilst studying hard at a top University, you could easily fall apart. The national team I was part of for so long could learn a thing or two from The Boat Race squads!”.
This may be Cracknell’s biggest challenge yet, but he is determined to succeed – “making the Boat is only the start, I and the other lads aren’t there for the kit and being selected, it’s about delivering on April 7th.”
Cambridge won all four races against Oxford last year, triumphing in the men’s, women’s and both reserve crew races.
Here are The Women’s Boat Race 2019 Crews in full...@OUWBCsquad: 568.8KG@CUWBC: 578.3KG#TheBoatRace2019 pic.twitter.com/1J2kHjRiPh
— The Boat Race (@theboatraces) March 14, 2019
