The Boat Race Fund

The Boat Race is incredibly proud to work with Gemini to enable young people across the UK to have the opportunity to try rowing.

^{Words: Tom Ransley / Photos: Benedict Tufnell}

The Boat Race Fund was established to deliver our common goal to break down barriers to participation, and from September 2021 to July 2022 we have welcomed over 880 young people to the sport, via seven dedicated community projects that have led the way in opening access to rowing, both on and off the water.

Nearly 900 young people have learned to row, and also developed life skills including leadership, resilience and goal setting, all under the watchful eye of experienced coaches based in the heart of the communities they serve.

The Boat Race and Gemini have selected organisations that aim to increase diversity of participation. These organisations are experts in engaging with and exploring the opportunities to improve recruitment and retention of young people, many of whom have been underrepresented in our sport.

It is essential that we play our part in engaging young people in sport. The Boat Race Fund, supported by Gemini, is delighted to provide funding support, and to highlight the inspiring work of our partner organisations. In this way, we can continue to make a lasting difference to the lives of young people and their communities.

Here are the four principal goals we’ve set ourselves

01
TO REMOVE BARRIERS

Gemini and The Boat Race Company are committed to lessening the impact of financial barriers in the hope that a whole new generation of rowers can access the sport. We help young rowers access rowing kit and help with the cost of travel to and from the rowing club; we also want our young rowers to feel comfortable and safe.

02
TO INCREASE INCLUSION

By funding committed grassroots organisations, we want to support a new generation of rowers from a broader range of socio-economic groups. We hope the projects we fund will build a bridge between sport and underserved communities. We provide financial support for rowing instruction, mentorship, facilities and education.

03
TO WORK WITH PARTNER ORGANISATIONS

Our goals are ambitious. To realise them we work with transformative organisations who have the skills and experience to deliver powerful programmes. The programmes are either long established in their communities or have a successful track record of driving significant change. They prioritise on and off water training. The programmes develop the whole person, not just the rower.

04
TO HARNESS THE TRANSFORM- ATIVE IMPACT OF SPORT

We want to inspire others through education and sport and to harness the transformative power of sport. All the projects that we support promote the overall well-being of the participants. The programmes enable young people to translate the skills and lessons learned together in the boat, or on the rowing machine, into their daily lives, their studies and their wider communities.

Here are the seven projects we have supported.

Fulham Reach Boat Club

Fulham Reach’s relationship with the Boat Race dates to 2016. The funding has enabled Fulham Reach to offer underrepresented young rowers free membership to the club.

Young people receiving free school meals and living in West London take part in free community courses in the Easter and Summer holidays. Following their graduation from the programme, these young people came back to join the club for the next year.

The young people represent one of the 14 local partner secondary schools. Within these schools every child in Year 9 and above can try rowing.

We wholeheartedly support the Fulham Reach vision. Becoming part of this thriving rowing club and learning to row has had a lasting impact on young rowers and the Boat Race has been able to see at first hand the impact of supporting this dynamic club.

London Youth Rowing – Leeds

London Youth Rowing has a longstanding relationship with the Boat Race. Since foundation in 2004 this charity has gone from strength to strength, and we are proud to support the charity’s first initiative outside London.

Many young people in Bradford and Wakefield have never considered taking up rowing. We are delighted to have played a part in changing this. Thanks to The Boat Race Fund more than 400 children have had the opportunity to learn to row.

The Active Row Leeds programme is built upon a wellestablished model. Inclusion and accessibility are at the very core of their approach. London Youth Rowing work with schools that have higher levels of underrepresented groups within their community; this is not limited to race or socioeconomic groups but extends to young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

London Youth Rowing organise school-based club sessions, led by dynamic and engaging coaches. Clubs are open to all pupils to encourage the widest possible participation. Half of all participants come from an ethnic group. 8.5% have a special educational need or disability.

Brixton Wings

Funding from The Boat Race Fund has enabled Brixton Wings to offer on-water rowing at London Regatta Centre during the school holidays. All participants experience indoor rowing as they attend indoor rowing sessions run from the Brixton Recreation Centre and in Angel Town Centre.

The opportunity to row on water, learn a new aspect of the sport, and gain water confidence has had a very powerful lasting impact on each participant. Access to the water is a challenge, even in London where distances may seem short. The Fund covers transport costs for all participants.

Brixton Wings has an emphasis on providing after-school and early intervention programmes for children and young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds. Brixton Wings is now in its 10th year of delivering indoor and on-water rowing sessions to young people.

We love Brixton Wings, and we really appreciate those who support this small organisation.

Behind Every Kick

Behind Every Kick (BEK) is a charity with an ambition to help young people develop skills through playing sport and show them that these skills can be harnessed to create opportunities in their wider lives.

BEK has developed a specific set of workshops designed with lEYLane4, who are world-renowned experts in the field of human performance. The workshops are delivered to young people within a school setting.

The Boat Race Fund support for BEK has enabled the delivery of an impactful programme introducing young people to rowing. BEK worked with school Six 21 which is based in Newham, East London, where the programme is delivered to predominantly non-white young people.

Part of the project was to improve sports provision at the school. They did it – they got to go rowing!

Ely College

The Gemini Boat Race was held in Ely, Cambridgeshire in 2021, for only the second time in history. It’s a meaningful legacy of the race to be able to support the local state school rowing programme and to be part of the school club’s impact and growth.

Ely College has initiated a school rowing programme and The Boat Race Fund has:

• enabled the reduction of membership fees for the year

• enabled the school to ensure that young people who might otherwise be unable to join be given the opportunity to join

• given students the opportunity to represent the college in competition

• enabled 100% of eligible students to complete the Duke of Edinburgh Award with rowing as the skill

Ely College has partnered with local rowing club Isle of Ely where coaches and volunteer members have dedicated hours of coaching time. Our funding has allowed the training of Ely College staff to Level 2 Coach attainment.

Firhill Youth Project and Community Sports Hub

Our funding has enabled Firhill Youth Project and Community Sports Hub to double their rowing and engagement provision for young people aged 10 and over.

Based in North Glasgow’s Maryhill Basin, on the site of a disused foundry, participants come from the city’s most disadvantaged communities. A high proportion of the young people who attend are classified as ‘looked after’. This means that they live with their grandparents, foster carers or are in ‘temporary accommodation’.

Rowing together or taking part in an activity or erg challenge can be the only occasion during the week when young participants socialise with children outside school.

Since October 2021, this organisation has delivered 210 free sessions for local young people bringing rowing and water sports to more young people than ever before.

The whole project is housed in one section of a decommissioned 20-foot shipping container.

Warrington Youth Rowing

Our funding has supported Warrington Youth Rowing helping it to expand the reach of its rowing programme by adding an additional hub; Greater Manchester Youth Rowing was launched with five secondary schools starting the programme based at Agecroft Rowing Club. Now there are 36 water sessions across four hubs every week involving 31 schools and hundreds of young people.

The funding enabled Ben Dunne to spend more time meeting headteachers to explain the long-term benefits of rowing for disenfranchised young people. With help from colleague Richard Sinnott, a network of empty rowing clubs opened their doors and welcomed young people from local state schools to learn to row.

The rowing programme is delivered to the ‘pupil premium cohort’ – children who are at risk of underachievement – in Year 8 in the partner schools. Rowing is designed to be an early intervention, supporting schools in targeting their most vulnerable students. Many of the students come from underrepresented groups within the schools’ communities.

For those young people who have taken up rowing their attendance record has improved; there are fewer exclusions from school; and there have been improvements in attitude and confidence.