The Boat Race announces RNLI as official charity partner

The Boat Race Company has announced the RNLI as its official charity partner for The Boat Race 2022.

This year, The Boat Race – the annual rowing contest between crews from Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Clubs – takes place on Sunday, 3 April.

Since 2002, the RNLI’s Chiswick lifeboat station has supported The Boat Race with its E-class lifeboat. The crew are on hand to keep Boat Race competitors safe, as well as the thousands of spectators who line the banks of the Thames on race day. 

The charity partnership first took place in 2019, with the aim of increasing awareness of the RNLI’s flagship ‘float to live’ drowning prevention campaign.

In 2016, the RNLI bolstered its lifesaving service with the addition of nine Arancia-class lifeboats crewed by lifeguards. These are strategically positioned along the championship course to keep the public safe while the tide is incoming.

In addition, this year the RNLI’s Community Safety Team will be working with venues and schools along the course to provide lifesaving water safety training and encourage familiarity with throwlines. The partnership aims to raise funds to support the Thames’ lifesaving service with all proceeds going towards the running costs of the four RNLI stations along the river.

Wayne Bellamy, station manager for RNLI Chiswick, says: “2022 will be the 20th year that my crew and I have supported the Gemini Boat Race, and kept competitors and spectators safe. This year also happens to be our station’s 20th birthday.”

In that time, RNLI Chiswick has launched over 4,000 times and rescued almost 2,000 people, Bellamy adds.

Crews from both teams are already in the thick of training for The Boat Race, and after two years without a race along the normal course, are eager to welcome spectators to London once again.

The famed sporting event between the UK’s two historic universities – Oxford and Cambridge – spans 192 years of rivalry. The Boat Race is attended by over 250,000 spectators and watched live on the BBC by millions more every year.