I first met Jonathan Rankin in 2010. We were both rowing at Molesey Boat Club, just next to Hampton Court Palace on the River Thames south west of London. This particular boat club had a reputation for being 'tall'. Most of the athletes at rowing clubs are tall by population standards but MBC was really tall. I stand at 6'2'' and was one of the small rowers. Even by these standards Jonathan (or Jonny we all knew hime) stood out from the crowd at 6'7''.
He established himself as one of the leads of the squad. Athletes spend the majority of the year fight amongst themselves for seats in a boat at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta. That was the race everyone wanted in on and the rest of the year was about impressing your coaches enough to find yourself in the top boat. In each boat there is also a hierarchy on seat position with each place named from the front of the boat to the stern; bow, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and stroke. Stroke man is arguably one of the most important seats in the boat, he seats the rhythm and length, has the ear of the cox and needs to be technically excellent. He also needs to be stubborn and single minded. It's fair to say Jonny owned the stroke seat in pretty much any boat he was in from the first week of the season.
The author (2nd from left) and Jonathan Rankin (far right) after winning in the Coxed Four at Home International Regatta 2011
After our 2011 season, having narrowly missed out on our Henley Medals (a loss in the semi final), many of the athletes including myself and Jonny disbanded. Its a funny thing, you live with these people everyday in an intense atmosphere for a year at the end of it - disappear, only seeing each other once a year at the regatta.
Fast forward a few years and I'm scrolling through instagram when picture of an athlete capture my attention. Its from a page called The Transcontinental Race. The athlete is strangly familiar. I go down the rabbit hole and end up on a blog post by the TCR, sure enough I do know the athlete, it's Jonny, albeit a bearded, considerably slimmed down version of the 100kg rower I knew. The single-mindedness and stubbornness was still there to see through in his approach to this absolute monster of a race.
Jonathan Rankin and team mate James Craven during TCR06
When the plan for this podcast popped up I knew I had to talk to Jonny. I was on a night stop in Edinburgh where he lives with his girlfriend so I popped over to catch up.
Jonathan is a Senior Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh University and a Consultant for Exevion. He is still an ultra endurance cyclist, always watching for another crazy race to catch his eye.
Enjoy the podcast.
Jon
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