Jamie ready to take on 'mane' rival
When SPIKES heard that British former World Indoor 400m gold medallist Jamie Baulch was racing against a horse for charity we gave him a call to find out how it all came about.
Hey Jamie, so we hear you’re racing a horse!
Yeah! Well, the organisers at Kempton wanted an ex-Olympian to run against this horse (Peopleton Brook) and they thought, who would be mad enough to do it?
Oh yeah… Jamie Baulch!
Did you think someone was pulling your leg when they asked you about this?
Yeah I did! I thought they were having a laugh but then I realised they were actually being serious!
When I realised it wasn’t an April Fool, I asked them ‘so how fast does a horse go then?’ and they said, ‘well it can do the 200m in about 16 seconds!’ I thought, hang on a sec, you do realise that’s three seconds faster than Usain Bolt over the 200m!
When I realised it was for real and for charity I was well up for giving it a go.
So do you think 100m is the perfect distance to race a horse then?
I think the 100m is perfect really for this race as the horse takes a while to get into full flight so hopefully it will be quite an even race.
I think though that if you were running any further than 100m then you’ve got no hope.
If I can get a really good start and he has a really bad run out of the gates then it should be quite interesting
Originally they said 200m and I thought hell no! I struggle to catch a bus these days let alone beating a horse over 200m!
Have you been training for the race?
Recently I’ve been training twice a day, gone back in the gym, been doing some running and also a bit of weights.
I have also started training for next years London Marathon. It will be my first ever Marathon and I’ll be doing it with Iwan Thomas (the 1998 European and Commonwealth 400m champion) who’s done the marathon a few times before.
He’s keeps telling anyone who’ll listen that I’m fat but he hasn’t run under four hours in the marathon, so I want to make sure I can do it in under four (hours), so I can shut him up!
Back to the showdown with Peopleton Brook, have you had a chance to run at Kempton Park yet?
I got a chance to have a quick go when we did the photo shoot. The surface that we will be running on is this really weird synthetic surface that has been made up of these small pieces of wire with a resin coating.
When I first walked on it I thought I won’t be able to race on this but when they put my track down it hardened the surface and it’s actually really nice to run on.
So what are your odds like going into the race?
All the bookies have written me right off!
Unfortunately, I can’t bet on myself but I have got friends who are betting on me.
I know I’m no Usain Bolt, but I am going to give it my best and we’ll see how I go!
Are you confident in yourself?
The technique is still there so I want to give it my best shot so I can give 10 grand (the amount on offer for the winners charity) to my charity Barnados.
Have you ever ridden a horse?
I have actually and I fell off!
My sister used to own one and I was riding on the back with her when I was little and there was a branch in front of me that I didn’t see as my sister was in front. She ducked and I took the branch right in the face!
It was a classic comedy scenario!
So were you scared when you came face to face with Peopleton Brook?
I wasn’t until one of the organisers said to me: ‘listen, we’ve put you next to the rail, so if the horse does rear over to you, you can jump underneath.’
Until then it hadn’t entered into my head that it could be dangerous!
Finally, apparently Peopleton Brook has said ‘neigh’ to any interviews preferring his hooves to do the talking. If Peopleton is reading this, do you have any fighting talk for him?
Yeah I do as it goes, tell him he’s not so big and that I’m going to show him what winning is all about.
I’m gonna kick his butt!
For more information on the Man v Horse race at Kempton Park on 30 June, click
here.