by Paul Rutland
01732 452404
ForEliteAtheletes to FunRunners
33
RACE : INTERVIEW
James Ruckley
Interview:
Amelia Earhart once said that “the most effective way
to do it, is to do it,” with James Ruckley, something
of a pioneer himself, although flying over obstacles
rather than oceans, this motto is also true.
“You can make excuses if you want, or you can just
get it done,” he says. With Ruckley, you can tell that
everything he does is about getting it done, whatever
‘it’ happens to be.
The 24-year-old is an athlete of high calibre – he
finished 13th in the 18-24 age category at his sport’s
2016 World Championships – but, by definition,
he has taken a path off the beaten track. Obstacle
Course Racing (OCR), the sport in which Ruckley
excels, may not be one in the centre of public
consciousness, but it soon might be.
OCR aficionados claim that it is the fastest growing
sport in the world; having only begun in 2010, with
companies such as Tough Mudder and Toughest the
forerunners, revenue had grown by 3,027 per cent
over its first half-decade of operation, with the sport
now expanding across the world. But what is it?
“Look at it as a blend of trail running and Ninja
Warrior, where you complete an obstacle course over
different terrains,” the Ginger Ninja, as his Instagram
account would have it, tells me.
“Variety is really the thing. You never find a course
that’s the same twice, so you can never compare your
result from one race to another, because you have
different terrain, different obstacles, in a different
order, different weather – but the weather doesn’t
really stop anything. You know, torrential rain? Lovely,
it’s just a warm-up.”
Late for our meeting due to a queue for his
prescription ADHD tablets, Ruckley, as he is known
by just about everybody, is far from hyper as we
chat. Leaning forwards, often expressing points with
gestures, he is articulate and with a clear passion for
his sport, his only interest is getting this across.
To the casual observer, what Ruckley and a core
of around 1,000 other OCR athletes worldwide do,
sounds more fun than the serious feats of endurance
it actually requires.
“It made an Iron Man look like a walk in the park”
He tells me, when discussing Toughest24, a 24-hour
non-stop race around a 1km gravel horse circuit, with
obstacles every one-hundred metres. “Mental torture,
it really, really was mental torture.
“It’s the only race I thought wasn’t going to end.
The only race I ever thought I wasn’t going to finish.
I thought I was going to be running forever. Never
again…well, until next year.”
The remarkable thing about Ruckley seems to be how
blasé he is about things other people would look at
and simply say “no” and then ask “why”? Take his
performance at Toughest Ice, an 8km course across
snow and ice in the Arctic Circle, as an example.
“We’re on sheet ice and it’s rock solid. 200 metres
in I stumble, get a bit of a knock and fall backwards.
I couldn’t tell you how I landed but I’m told I landed
with one arm extended and one arm bent.” The
result? Breakages of all the carpals in both hands, a
split of both the ulna and the radius in his left arm,
some metacarpals in his right hand are broken, as
well as all three bones in the elbow joint, including a
complete sheer of the radial head.
With a mere 7,800 metres to go, you’d think Ruckley
would call it quits. But he didn’t – for two reasons.
“As I hit the floor I look left, and there’s Bo Rocatis,
the one-legged warrior. He lost his leg trying to kick a
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