James Cracknell, the British Olympic gold-medalist who was attempting to traverse the United States by bicycle and running in a mere 18 days, suffered a fractured skull Tuesday on Route 66 when he was hit by a truck in Arizona, reports The Independent of London.
The 38-year-old was filming for the Discovery Channel on a 2,500-mile stretch of Route 66 when the accident happened. […]
Cracknell was thrown from his bike after being hit from behind by a truck on Tuesday afternoon, but is said to be making “good progress”. He is in hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, with his wife, Beverley, and their children at his bedside. He was not being filmed at the time of the accident, the Discovery Channel said.
His trek included 80 miles of running in one day and about 150 miles a day by bicycle. He was attempting this in some of the harshest terrain, including the Mojave Desert and Death Valley during the height of summer.
The Daily Mail in London said that Cracknell was struck shortly after dawn near Winslow. Cracknell’s friend said the helmet he was wearing during the crash probably saved his life.
Cracknell’s prognosis is good, the Discovery Channel said in a statement.
UPDATE: Hmm. According to ultramarathoner Pam Reed, who was to accompany Cracknell during an 80-mile run through Death Valley, the British athlete quit after two miles there.
According to an interview in the Arizona Daily Star:
She agreed to meet Cracknell as his crew at noon in Death Valley. It was more than 120 degrees when Reed got there. She waited and waited and waited. At 3 p.m., Cracknell arrived and said he needed some rest.
“It wasn’t getting any cooler,” Reed says with a laugh.
Finally, at 5:55, Cracknell emerged from his RV and ran a mile. Then he walked a mile. Then he quit, about 78 miles shy of his planned finish.
“I’m not being critical of James,” says Reed. “But he would’ve never made it through Death Valley.”
Reed probably knows what she’s talking about. She won the 135-mile Badwater Marathon in Death Valley in 2002 and 2003.