A Grand Leap to Parity

Photograph Getty

“All that training comes to this, a moment in time for women, for sport, for rowing, for equality, the Newton Investment Women’s Boat Race.”

Clare Balding’s simple sentence to introduce the start of the Women’s Boat Race 2015 may not be instantly recognisable, yet the depth of meaning is probably as important as it comes in the sporting world.

That final line to hand to commentator Jonathan Legard signalled the occasion that the female rowers of Cambridge University and Oxford University finally gained parity with the men – racing on the same day, on the same Championship Course, on the Tideway, on the BBC.

The wait was a long one. Oxford and Cambridge first competed against each other in the Women’s Boat Race in 1927, but it was hardly a race, it was a points contest. Each eight rowed separately downstream on the River Isis in Oxford and were judged on style, with points awarded for “steadiness, rhythm, beginning and finish of stroke, general impression and speed”, and they then rowed back upstream against the clock to record a time. Oxford were the winners.

Thankfully, much has changed since those days, but it was a long process that now, ten years further down the line, seems remarkably recent and yet a long time ago, all at once.

There had been discussions about the women’s race moving from the Henley Boat Races to The Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake in the early 2000s, but the offer from the then sponsors meant the women’s clubs would have only had a fraction of the sponsorship being offered to the men. However, it was to start a movement that would eventually lead to change.

“In this day and age, if you don’t make that kind of change then you become an obsolete institution.”

St John’s College, Cambridge first admitted women undergraduates in 1982, and, in 1984, Annamarie Phelps was a member of only the third cohort of women students to join the college. The long association with Cambridge, and rowing, had started for Phelps.

Rowing was a new sport to Phelps; her only prior knowledge of it was The Boat Race on TV, but by 1987 she was helping Cambridge reserve crew Blondie beat Oxford’s Osiris at Henley. “I don’t suppose it occurred to me back then that the women’s race would ever be part of a big Tideway festival of rowing,” says Phelps.

“After I graduated, I was rowing in London and then on the national team and lots of the women from Cambridge started to get selected for the GB team.”

“It seemed less clear that the women’s race should be so overshadowed by the men’s, especially in the uneven funding.”

In 2009, Phelps was approached by then CUWBC chair Pat Marsh to be part of a sub-group involving the men’s and lightweights’ clubs, chaired by the then Master of Pembroke College Richard Dearlove, to collaborate on a joint-fundraising effort to build a new boathouse in Ely. The momentum had started, with

discussions covering shared facilities and assets, and potentially a single boat club for Cambridge University.

A year later, in 2010, conversations were held between Phelps and OUWBC chair Rachel Quarrell with Newton Investment about the potential sponsorship for the Women’s Boat Race, which was then at the Henley Boat Races. Dame Helena Morrissey was the Newton Investment CEO and was setting up the 30% Club to advocate for more women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies.

“It seems crazy 90 of those years were virtually unknown to anyone except those people competing and their families.”

It was a good fit in terms of timing, and Newton agreed to sponsor the Women’s Boat Race 2011. Things got even better when Oxford’s success was featured on the front page of The Times through a picture of Natalie Redgrave, the Dark Blues’ three-seat and Sir Steve’s daughter.

“Newton were thrilled and their owners, BNY Mellon, perked up their interest and it really seemed that there was sufficient interest from funders to push for the race to move to The Championship Course. I think that was the pivotal moment,” says Phelps.

“The universities were keen to show they had women as well as men to the huge international audience. Newton was a leader in this, and Helena took a rare trip over to New York to speak to the board of BNY Mellon, because in the meanwhile the men’s race had lost its sponsor unexpectedly and was looking for a new one.”

“Helena persuading the parent company to come on board and to jointly sponsor the two races was a welcome relief and a nice tie up.”

The key stakeholders of the The Boat Race were all aligned. The offer on the table for the men was contingent on the race being combined with the women’s race, with equal funding for both, and given the support of the universities’ vice-chancellors and the BBC, it was a case of then or never.

Therefore, 11 months after the first Newton Women’s Boat Race at Henley, in February 2012 it was announced that the Women’s Boat Race would move to join the men’s race from Putney to Mortlake in 2015.

The three-year period allowed the clubs to adjust their training, professionalise their coaching and administrative roles, and adapt training schedules.

There were also discussions to be had around kit, branding, TV schedules and the logistics of training bases in London and boating logistics on the day of the race.

In the summer of 2014, the elections were held for the two Presidents that would oversee such an historic year. At Oxford, Anastasia Posner (née Chitty), a medical student, was elected, and at Cambridge, veterinary student Caroline Reid was selected.

“It was a huge honour,” says Posner. “Sport, specifically rowing, has completely transformed my life.”

“So, to have the opportunity to represent women’s rowing, to represent women’s sport, to represent opportunity to a national and international audience was amazing.”

“I’m passionate about the power of sport, and having a platform to share this message was incredible.”

Reid says: “It was an honour to be elected President for the 2015 season. Having already participated in three Boat Race campaigns I felt equipped to lead the team in the move to the Tideway, although the amount of media coverage we got that year still surprised me.”

By the time race weekend arrived, Phelps had been elected as chair of British Rowing in 2013 so had stepped down as chair of CUWBC, to be replaced by Cath Bishop.

The women’s reserve crews, Blondie and Osiris, competed first, on the Friday, a day before the Blue Boats. “Watching this race off was the most emotional for me in 2015,” says Phelps. “I cried because it meant that the Blue Boats would also do it – there was no stopping it happening at that point.”

As the Blue Boat races were on Saturday 13 April, it meant they clashed with the Grand National.

This created a dilemma for Clare Balding, who had been scheduled to present the racing for Channel 4 and therefore had a decision to make.

“I come from a racing family who have always seen Grand National day as sacrosanct, but I believe that when you are given an opportunity to stand up for what you believe in, you have to take it,” she says.

“I had long been campaigning for better coverage of women’s sport and a higher profile for female athletes, so it was time to back up my words.

“I knew that I only had one chance to present the first ever Women’s Boat Race on the Tideway – as a live BBC event it was a huge moment, and I wanted to be a part of it.

“Consequently, I felt a combination of pride in hosting the coverage, joy for those who had the opportunity to compete, hope for the female rowers of that era and all those to come and I will confess to an element of defiance that this would prove the doubters and the naysayers wrong.”

Balding admits to being conflicted by her decision on the day, though, after realising that a female could win the Grand National for the first time.

But by the time she crossed to the commentator, any trepidation had eased after Nina Carberry finished fifth on First Lieutenant – and it would be six more years before Rachel Blackmore made history at Aintree.

“I don’t have an autocue for live events and I write my own script, so I tried to get across the sense of history and the relevance of the moment as we built up to the start of the race,” she says.

“Once I handed across to Jonathan Legard to commentate, I could watch and enjoy the race.”

By this point, the full glare was on the 18 women set to make history.

The build-up for the athletes is carefully orchestrated and when it came to boating at Putney for Oxford’s pre-race paddle, Posner can still recall the emotions.

“I think the message went out loud and clear that all sports can evolve.”

“Just calm, and a sense of being ready,” she says. “One of my favourite memories is warming up for the race.”

“After all the hustle and bustle of the bank, it’s very quiet out on the river and it’s you and your crew – ready to put all your hard training into the race. That’s a cool moment.”

Reid remembers the intense nerves setting out for the warm-up and a surreal feeling walking out of the boathouse surrounded by crowds of people on all sides.

“My most vivid memory from the day though was sitting on the start line, looking across to my right and seeing the Oxford crew and then centring back into our boat,” she explains.

“The knowledge that I was surrounded by such a powerful and focused group of women helped the nerves evaporate prior to the race starting. The race itself is more of a blur with only the odd snippet standing out clearly in my mind.”

And there was no stopping the Oxford Blue Boat, which featured double Olympic gold medallist Caryn Davies at stroke.

The Dark Blues produced a dominant display, winning by sixand-a-half lengths in 19min 45sec.

Having had no cause to consider rowing The Boat Race prior to the announcement in 2012, Davies had no preconceived notion about the race or what its future should be.

And yet, she does not underestimate the impact it has subsequently had. “In this day and age, if you don’t make that kind of change then you become an obsolete institution, so in my opinion, it redefined The Boat Race for the 21st Century,” says Davies, who remains the most decorated rower to take part in either the men’s or women’s Boat Race.

“Both the men’s and women’s clubs are still integrating, and I know Cambridge is further ahead than Oxford on that.”

Posner, who is now a hospital doctor, ended up rowing in five Boat Races, which were split between training with the GB Rowing Team. After the 2020 Olympics were delayed because of the Covid pandemic, she gave up her Olympic ambitions to return to her medical studies and one last Boat Race.

“Even when I went back to race in 2022, some of my squad didn’t know that 2015 was the first year of equal opportunities in the race,” she says.

“I think that’s a positive that it’s so quickly become the norm. And more widely, the media landscape has changed so much for women’s sport with women’s football, cricket and rugby now mainstream television.” “So, it’s come such a long way, and the Women’s Boat Race was a significant part of this cultural shift.”

“However, now that the lack of opportunities for women in sport aren’t so glaringly inferior, there’s a danger of overlooking the clear disparities that exist.”

“I think there’s still a long way to go, so we need to keep pushing – I think we’re at risk of accepting good enough rather than parity.”

After four years rowing with CUWBC, the come down was hard for Reid and so she trialled with Cambridge University RUFC.

In a brilliant sporting feat, she was selected on the wing for the first Women’s Varsity Match to be played at Twickenham in 2016.

“Parity between men’s and women’s sport is improving year on year, but there is still some way to go before true parity in opportunities, sponsorship, coverage and prize money is achieved, but every step in the right direction is good,” says Reid, who is now a vet in New Zealand.

“It was surreal to get to be part of both the first Women’s Boat Race on the Tideway and the first Women’s Varsity Match at Twickenham and I feel very lucky that my time at Cambridge coincided with both.”

Davies sees the parity brought about by the move through a slightly different lens.

“I don’t think I had ever realised what women had been through until I raced in the first Women’s Veterans’ Boat Race [which is competed for by old Blues from each club] in 2022,” she says.

“I was one of the youngest so there were some women in that boat who had raced at Oxford in the 1980s and hearing them tell some of the stories about what they had to go through to get funding, and find coaching, I honestly hadn’t really thought about it or been exposed to it. I think that puts the whole experience of 2015 into context for me. In a weird way, that Veterans’ Boat Race was more emotional than the actual race.”

Making the step to parity between the sexes in The Boat Race has changed the way people look at women rowers and women’s rowing and has provided some of the best races during the past ten years.

“It has always felt to me one of the most important moments for female empowerment, because The Boat Race is such a traditional event,” says Balding. I think the message went out loud and clear that all sports can evolve and improve if they allow the platform to be shared equally between men and women.”

“There has often been a suspicion that if you’re sporty you can’t be academic, but The Boat Race is a unique event in showcasing both.”

“As such it has a very special impact on girls and women in offering amazing examples of intelligent women who are also fit, strong and supportive of each other.”

“My parents and various racing friends may not have understood why I chose the Women’s Boat Race, but I have no regrets. It pays to think differently, and I am proud to have been a part of a historic event for women in sport and beyond.”

The move has been transformative for the clubs, too. Cambridge merged their men’s, women’s and lightweight clubs under one umbrella in 2020 to share assets, facilities, resources and events, and Oxford merged to become one club in 2023.

“I am now chair of CUBC, the first female chair in almost 200 years,” says Phelps.

“We have retained the founding colours for crews on race days [where the women race with a splash of red], and whilst I would love us all to be exactly equal, I quite like this heritage and tradition and hope it stays.”

A big landmark is in store for the Women’s Boat Race in 2027.

And Phelps adds: “As we approach the 100th anniversary, it seems crazy 90 of those years were virtually unknown to anyone except those people competing and their families.” “Having the profile the race has now gives a real depth of history and tradition to women’s sport.” •