Host and Speaker Contents
Host: Georgie Thompson
Beautiful broadcaster and journalist, Georgie Thompson, will be hosting the exciting evening. She began her career at GMTV as an entertainment researcher and in 2001 made the plunge to front the popular Sky Sports News channel. After months of 4am starts on Good Morning Sports Fans, she now wakes at a more sensible hour and presents the daily afternoon show which regularly attracts over a million viewers.
Georgie's work extends beyond Sky into televised tournaments and celebrity fundraisers. She also has her own "question and answer" page on the TV station's website and contributes to a range of newspapers and magazines.
After-dinner Speaker: James Cracknell OBE
James Cracknell is one of Britain's leading oarsmen. A member of the victorious coxless four in Sydney, he went on to achieve another Olympic gold in Athens. After Sydney, James teamed up in a coxless pair with Matt Pinsent. Together they won the World Championships in Lucerne, retaining the title the following year and smashing the world record.
Along with presenter Ben Fogle, James has since taken part in the Woodvale Atlantic Rowing race, crossing 2,935 miles of lonely and often dangerous water between San Sebastien and Nelsons Dockyard in Antigua. In December 2008 they set off yet again to take part in the inaugural Amundsen Omega3 South Pole Race. The team traversed the 473.6 miles suffering frost-bite, infected blisters, dramatic weight-loss, pneumonia and exhaustion and came second only to a pair of Norwegian polar experts. His experiences were recently broadcast on BBC in a prime-time Sunday night series of the adventure called 'On Thin Ice'. The series is accompanied by a self-penned book of the race, 'Race to the Pole'.
James also presents sport on ITV and Channel 4. He covered The Boat Race 2007 with Mark Durden Smith for ITV and is the presenter of ITV's coverage of the British Superbike Championship. He is also the main presenter of Channel 4's Red Bull Air Race World Series coverage. He is a contracted columnist with the Daily Telegraph writing about various topics including sport, motoring, gardening, cookery and more.
