EverymanTri.com

British Olympian swimming, biking, running and rowing across America hit by car in AZ

Sad news to report today as James Cracknell (the British Olympic rowing champion who set his sights on swimming, biking, running and rowing across America) was hit by car in Arizona and suffered a fractured skull.

You may recall from THIS story that Cracknell was in the process of attempt to race across the entire breadth of North America, from Los Angeles to New York City in only sixteen days, and set a new endurance World Record.

That quest came to a sudden end near Winslow, Arizona at 5:30 a.m. as Cracknell was struck by a truck from behind on a quiet stretch of Arizona highway and fractured his skull. By most accounts his bike helmet saved his life.

British Olympian to swim, bike, run and row across America

James Cracknell is one of Britain’s most successful athletes of all time, with two Olympic Golds (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004) and six World Championship titles in rowing.

No stranger to endurance challenges, having previously rowed across the Atlantic, raced to the South pole and just back  from placing the highest Brit ever in the Marathon des Sables earlier this year, James is raising the stakes to an even higher level, by taking on a truly unique endeavor.

 He will attempt to race across the entire breadth of North America, from Los Angeles to New York City  in only sixteen days, and set a new endurance World Record.




Choosing four Olympic disciplines to complete the challenge this is the plan: 


• Cycle 350 miles from Santa Monica to Death Valley National Park in Nevada


• Run 80 miles through Death Valley 


• Cycle 2,500 miles from Death Valley to Toledo, Ohio on the western tip of Lake Erie 


• Row 250 miles the length of Lake Erie from Toledo to Buffalo, New York 


• Cycle 500 miles From Buffalo to New York City 


• Swim 15 miles to the Statue of Liberty

Florida Keys ultramarathon could be the best of times or the worst of times

Editor's Note: Everyday we get dozens of press releases from races all around the world. For the most part we only post the one that ones that we think a news worthy but this one caught our eye today.

If you are going to go and try to run 100 miles this race could either be the best experience of your life or the worst. It really depends on your point of view. Running over 40 bridges to Key West with the Atlantic ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other side could be a dream run or...running in the blazing Florida heating and humidity with cars zipping by for over 100 miles could be hell.

Like we said it really depends on your point of view.

So what marathon do you suppose you could have won recently in a time of 5 hours?

It's a pretty straightforward question really...

What marathon do you suppose you could have won this past weekend if you had managed to cover 26.2 miles in 5-hours?

The photo probably gives it away but we can report that Joep Rozendal, a former Dutch marine, won the marathon in 5:00:58...so that if you had run it in 5 hours you would have beat him by just under a minute.

And if you are wondering about the women, the fastest women, Jamie Cuthbertson, a 49-year-old former British Royal Engineers captain, won the race in 5:56:54.

Video: Mush and they're off and running the longest and coldest Alaskan endurance race

1,100-miles...that's the distance of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race which officially begins today.

The 38th running...that's how long the grueling endurance race of man/women/dog has been contested.

71...that's the number of teams competing this year.

Anchorage's Fourth Avenue...that's were the race starts.

Nome, Alaska...that's where the race ends.

16-dogs...that's the typical number of eager and barking dogs that make up a team.

Video: Intrepid British adventure plans to swim bike and run around the entire globe

On May 8, intrepid British adventurer Dan Martin will brave the shark-infested waters of the Atlantic Ocean, wearing nothing but trunks and a swim cap, as he attempts one of the greatest ever achievements of human endurance.

In what he is calling The Global Triathlon, Extreme athlete Dan (28), will attempt a 5700k swim New York to Brest in France, before cycling across Europe to Asia.

Video: Race Across America (RAAM) Exposed

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to take part in the annual and grueling and crazy hard  3000-mile Race Across America (RAAM) this new video trailer for the movie Bicycle Dreams is good indication.

After watching it you have to wonder why somebody would put themselves through such an extreme bike race in such a short amount of time.

Follow on twitter @everymantri or view latest videos on YouTube.

Video: 3000 miles across the Pacific Ocean by pedal power

Editor's Note: Our friend Greg Kolodziejzyk is getting close to realizing his dream of pedaling a human powered boat across the Pacific Ocean. He just uploaded this new video to youtube about his on going efforts to design and build a human powered pedal boat that can cross the from North America to Hawaii.

The video along with his description of the adventure is below:

Video: Is the Badwater 135-mile Ultramarathon the hardest foot race in the world?

A riddle for avid runners who like to go long...very long

Here's a riddle for all of you avid runners who like to go long:

What costs $8000, and covers 6 countries, and cross 2,8000 miles, and had only one American entrant.

Give-up?

Here's another hint: To compete in this race you need to consume an average of about 8,000 calories per day.

The answer is this year's Trans Europe Footrace.

On the 65th day, Russell Secker rested because he was the only American out of 45 entrants to finish the race. He wore out six pairs of running shoes in the process and averaged 45 miles per day.

Triple Ironman athlete and buddy to row across the Atlantic Ocean naked for charity

So in the world of Ultra endurance sports racing a triple Ironman is probably pretty much par for the course if you are a serious ultra endurance athlete.

And even rowing a boat across 2500 miles of open Atlantic ocean might not seem like such a completely crazy hard day (or months as it will most likely be) at the office.

But to row that boat stark naked almost the entire way---well that's something that even might raise and eyebrow or two of the most Ultra of Ultra athletes.

Live webcast coverage of the 2009 Western States 100 mile endurance run

After not being held last year because of California forest fires, the 2009 Western States 100 mile endurance run (one of North America's premier endurance tests) is back.

This weekend hundreds of athletes and over 1500 volunteers are helping to make the race with the huge belt buckle prize possible.

Click HERE for live webcast coverage of this year's run.

10X endurance: New Speed Record set for Rowing Across the Indian Ocean

Editor's note: A few months ago Roman Mica had the chance to interview Doug Tumminello as got ready to row across the Indian Ocean.  Tumminello and his eight person crew just crossed the finish line (see photo) after rowing over 3000 miles across the Indian Ocean. They smashed the previous time record and in the process Tumminello lost 20 pounds. You can read the press release below and listen to the podcast HERE.

A multi-national crew of eight amateur rowers (6 men and 2 women) today smashed a record that has remained unbroken for 38 years, for the fastest ever crossing of the Indian Ocean by rowing boat.

When it all goes terribly wrong

You would think that running 150 miles in the Sahara Desert would be hard enough.

But apparently the desert was only a small part of the problem for father-of-two Alex Flynn when he tried running the Marathon Des Sables in Morocco.

The race almost cost him his life.

Is this the toughest race in the world?

We like to highlight crazy hard endurance races and we're always surprised by the fact that almost everyone of these races calls itself the "toughest race in the world"

Today we bring you another race (currently being held in Morocco) that could qualify for this title: Marathon de Sables.

'Exhausted' and 'overwhelmed': 25-year-old rows across the Atlantic Ocean solo

Can you imagine how tough, lonely and frightening it would be to row 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean by yourself and without a support boat or crew?

Paul Ridley does not have to image because he just did it.

The 25-year-old has become of the youngest and most successful athletes to row across the Atlantic Ocean as part of his effort raise money for cancer research.