Olympic rowing champion Katherine Grainger has hailed the decision to move the Women’s Boat Race to west London, ending the event’s 185-year history of male dominance.
Boat Race organisers decided year ago that the women’s race between Oxford and Cambridge would move in 2015 from its current venue in Henley-on-Thames to run on the same day and over the same course and distance – 4.25 miles from Putney to Mortlake – as the men’s event.
The move came just months before Great Britain won their first ever Olympic gold medals in women’s rowing, with three victories in total.
Among them, Grainger followed her silver medals at three successive Games with her first gold, in the double sculls with Anna Watkins.
Scotswoman Grainger was in the crew that won GB’s first ever Olympic rowing medal in 2000 but she said: “When I came back from racing in Sydney – and this is only 13 years ago – someone came up to me and said, ‘We didn’t even know women rowed’.
“Women’s rowing has transformed over the last few years internationally but still at the university level it’s not as well known.”
She said of the Women’s Boat Race move: “It’s a really big step forward for women’s sport and for women’s rowing particularly and that’s something that’s very close to my heart.
“I think it’s the status it deserves. Women’s rowing is now as successful as men’s internationally and it should be seen as an equal thing at university level.”
The Women’s Boat Race is expected to take place an hour before the men’s event in spring 2015, with BBC television keen to give good exposure to both.
Grainger, 37, has regularly competed over the same course as the Boat Race, as many of the major club time trial events take place on the same stretch of the Thames.
A head-to-head race over the course – which will take more than three times longer than an Olympic event – has extra demands so organisers have allowed a three-year build-up to the switch, allowing the squads to improve infrastructure and bring in new coaches.
“Within Oxford and Cambridge, the Women’s Boat Race is [already] a huge deal, it’s always been at Henley, attracts its own crowds and it’s very much its own event,” said Grainger.
“But when anyone talks about the Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race, this is what they picture: passing Harrods [furniture depository], going under Hammersmith Bridge, Chiswick.
“To see the women compete on this [course], I think will bring the Women’s Boat Race to a much wider audience, will make it much more accessible for people.”
Grainger was speaking at an event organised by new Boat Race sponsors BNY Mellon, to promote a new campaign called ‘Which Blue are You?’ to increase public awareness of the event.
The sponsors and the Boat Race are also involved in initiatives through community scheme London Youth Rowing to bring more youngsters into the sport.
Grainger played down suggestions that she will compete at a fifth Olympic games at Rio 2016, when she will be 40, saying she is unlikely to make a decision on her future until the summer.
The 2013 Women’s Boat Race takes place in Henley on Sunday 24 March, with the men’s race in west London on Easter Sunday.
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This post was last modified on 14/02/2013