A PARLIAMENTARY candidate who is contesting the Colchester constituency at the next General Election has suggested that keeping the seat blue will be as hard as making an Olympic team.

James Cracknell, who was selected last year to stand for the Conservative party at the next election, published a post on social media on Monday morning, which read: “In an Olympic year, my goal would be clear and in my control.

“My goal is as clear this year and going to be as hard, but not totally within my control.”

Mr Cracknell, 51, won a gold medal in the coxless four at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Athens Olympics four years later; he then retired in 2006.

Last year, Mr Cracknell was a surprise choice to become the Colchester Conservatives’ parliamentary candidate after Will Quince announced he would step down as an MP.

Mr Cracknell previously contested the combined constituency of South West England and Gibraltar in the European Parliament election in 2014, but he, alongside five other Conservatives, was defeated by UKIP.

The next election, which must be called before December this year, will see James Cracknell contest Colchester against Sara Nicola Ruth of the Green Party, Pam Cox of Labour, and Martin Goss of the Liberal Democrats.