Fresh from placing the highest Brit ever in the Marathon des Sables earlier this year, and with a broken toe to boot, those of you who have followed the exploits of James Cracknell since he retired from competitive rowing might not be surprised to hear that he has a new challenge, and he's asking for all our support.

Starting this Thursday, July 15th on the Southern Californian west coast in Santa Monica James is taking on America. He is racing non-stop across the US to the Statue of Liberty in what may be his 'toughest challenge yet'!

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

Followed every step of the way by the Discovery TV documentary film crew, James hopes to complete the challenge in 16 days. To help him along the way he will have the support of multi-endurance sport and survival expert, Bernie Shrosbree and the backing of Merida Bicycles. There are also rumours that Matthew Pinsent may put in an appearance at Lake Erie and row some the distance alongside him.

For us normal people the scale of the challenge is quite mind-boggling, and James is well-aware that he will need to call on all his reserves of energy and motivation to keep going which is why he would like as many people as possible to support him. If you'd like to send James any messages he can be contacted at twitter.com/jamescracknell