Olympic champions James Cracknell and Rebecca Romero set off this week attempting to break the world record non-stop mixed tandem bicycle ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats to mark the launch of the Deloitte Ride Across Britain event. Always keen to meet men and women on charitable missions, sport.co.uk caught up with Mr. Cracknell before he set off...
James, tell us a bit more about Ride Across Britain. What are you hoping to achieve?
Well, I was going to enter the Race Across America this year, but I realised I hadn’t cycled the length of this country yet… So, I looked into how I could go about doing that, and although there’s plenty of advice about the route, there’s no organised ride.
We started Threshold Sports about 8 months earlier and one of the things we wanted to get involved with was events. With nothing organised being on offer, we thought we could put something on to give people the chance to ride from Lands End to John O’Groats.
I thought the best way to promote the project was to get riding myself, and then I looked at the record thought, ‘I clearly can’t do it on my own quick enough… What about a tandem?’ so I asked Rebecca (Romero) – she’s just getting back into cycling – and we said lets have a crack at it.
Whether we’ll break the record, who knows, but the aim is to challenge ourselves and raise awareness for the ride itself.
It’s very different from your last venture, the South Pole Race. What was it about this challenge that appealed to you?
Firstly, it’s not thousands of miles away. I’ve been to the South Pole, rowed across the Atlantic and haven’t done a big event here, so that’s definitely one of the reasons. It’s a different sort of challenge too.
The South Pole was very slow and steady, whereas this will be more about speed and power to try and keep on the record. Whether we can keep that power up for that length of time, I’m sure Rebecca can, but mentally it’s going to be a really different challenge.
So, short and sharp rather than long and steady…
I’m sure it won’t feel short and sharp, especially riding through the night tonight.
What is it then that drives you? What’s your motivation?
It’s not necessarily a drive, its things that I enjoy doing. I’m lucky enough to have the opportunity to do them through the work that I do – it’s not part of my job but it is part of my job if that makes any sense. It’s lucky I can help out, put the logistics in place and then carry it through, that’s as fun as the actual challenge itself.
Whether it’s the record attempt or Ride Across Britain, both will be equally special. What will be really special for me is when all the riders finish the Ride Across Britain, knowing they’ve cycled from one end of the country to another, that’s a real drive and the record attempt is just a stepping-stone to that.
If you combine testing yourself and achieving something you want to, which is the long-term goal, the record attempt is really testing myself but the end achievement is to try and give people the chance who didn’t think they would be able to ride the length of the country or those who want to do it easily and quickly.
Regarding the South Pole Race, the documentary ‘On Thin Ice’ is currently showing on BBC 2. What kind of response are you getting from it?
Very positive, the BBC are very happy with it. I obviously get abusive text messages from mates about it but I haven’t actually watched it. We were really honest with the filming and hopefully that comes across; we’re not making out we’re hardcore explorers, we’re just people having a go. In that way it’s the same as Ride Across Britain, it’s people having a go, prepared to put the practice in. At the moment it looks like I’m driving Ben (Fogle) on, but viewers should keep watching.
You’re an Ambassador for London’s 2012 Olympics. Are you excited? Can you tell us about Britain’s prospects?
My role with the Olympics is on the sustainability side, which is a really wide-ranging brief. In terms of how we’re going to do, it’s very early to say.
We like to think that host nations always improve from what they did the time before – no nation steps backwards and that has to be our aim. It’ll be hard to repeat our 9 medals in cycling, we were also top of rowing and sailing – for 2 of those sports it’s the first time we’ve ever been top – and when you’re at the top people are shooting for you. We’re going to have to deliver, I don’t see why we won’t, but we are coming off the back of a great games in Beijing (2008).
The stadium is really coming on, the Aquatic Centre is taking shape, it’s really not long, and we’ve kept athletes in their sport that would have gone if the games weren’t in London. Would Chris Hoy still be cycling if it wasn’t in London? Probably not.
Is Steve Redgrave going to make a comeback?
Um… He can’t do anything at the moment, he broke his foot the other day just running out the house – he’s a bit fragile now the old fella. However, he did go and watch the Champions League Final before going to hospital, which I was quite impressed with.
You’re now a family man – wife, Beverley, and two kids. How do they deal with your constant adventures?
I think the key thing for anyone that travels is you make sure that when you are around, you’re around properly – mentally and physically. I’m sure I’m not the only one that sometimes gets the balance wrong but you try to make sure you get it right. It was 3 years between rowing across the Atlantic and the South Pole Race – it’s not like I came back, ditched the rowing shorts for a polar jacket and disappeared.
I am very lucky to have their support, but as our little boy gets older it is different, I miss him in a different way and he misses me in a different way and so you have to bare that in mind. With Kiki (Cracknell’s daughter), it’s important that I am around, but seeing as she’s breast-feeding, every other woman in the world is more important to her than I am.
Do you have any future plans or any long-term projects?
Ben (Fogle) and I have spoken about doing one more together, but it has to be the right thing. We never said we would or wouldn’t after the Atlantic, and we got on better on the South Pole Race and probably would like to do something together now. But it has to be for the right reason, not just for the sake of doing it. The BBC are very pleased and would like us to do something, but we’ve always chosen what we want to do and they’ve asked if they can come along and film it, rather than doing something because they’ve suggested it – for us that’s not the right way to go.
On a personal level, you’ve won gold-medals at the Olympics, the World Championships, rowed the Atlantic and raced across the South Pole. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
I think this record attempt will be really good because the more you look into it, the more you realise how hard it’s going to be. What you realise about planning something like the Ride Across Britain, is how many amazing athletes there are in this country that do it around what they normally do – they just do it because they want to do it. That’s very British. The sport I did I was very successful at, but it’s not accessible to everyone, whereas a lot more people have the chance to get a bike. But, this is going to be really tough mentally. I was fully prepared for the Olympics, whereas for this I’m prepared but not in the same way, I’m the wrong size – you don’t see many 100 kilo guys in the Tour de France for example.
A final question, who is the best person that you’ve rowed with?
I never rowed with Steve (Redgrave) at his peak. I think his peak was around ’88 or ’92. Matthew (Pinsent) was at his peak when I rowed with him, so I’d say him, but that’s unfair on Steve because he was 10 years older than me. Both of them were phenomenal athletes.
For more information on James and Rebecca's latest adventure and to learn more about how you can take part in the Ride Across Britain event, visit www.rideacrossbritain.com.