Boat Race sponsors donate sponsorship to Cancer Research UK
Howard Lake | 22 January 2016 | News
Cancer Research UK is the new lead partner of the famous Oxford & Cambridge Boat Races, after sponsorship of the events was donated by The Boat Races partners BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management.
The sporting event, previously known as The BNY Mellon Boat Races, will take on a new identity, in the run-up to its return to London in March.
The Cancer Research UK Boat Races
The events will now be known as The Cancer Research UK Boat Races, helping ensure the charity achieves just not national but international prominence. CRUK’s magenta and blue will be incorporated in the new logo with the Dark Blue of Oxford and Light Blue of Cambridge.
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Corporate fundraising support
In addition to donating the lead sponsor title, BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management will be supporting Cancer Research UK’s fundraising activities ahead of The Boat Races. This includes the charity’s new fitness challenge, The Great Row™, which encourages the nation to take on a sponsored indoor rowing challenge.
To take part in The Great Row, individuals and teams can choose from different challenge levels; with rowing distances from 2,000 metres to a full marathon. Participants can train for free at Fitness First gyms every Friday throughout January, February and March, with The Great Row’s official fitness partner welcoming participants in to train, at no cost, every day from 19th – 26th March to complete their challenge ahead of the official races. For more information visit
“This amazing gesture is breaking new ground in sponsorship”
David Searle, executive director of The Boat Race Company Ltd, said he was very grateful to BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management for their gesture on behalf of CRUK:
“In BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management we knew we had sponsors who would do something out of the ordinary. After making history with the introduction of The Women’s Boat Race to the Tideway in 2015, this amazing gesture is breaking new ground in sponsorship”.
Sir Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said:
“We are enormously grateful to BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management for their generous donation. The Oxford & Cambridge Boat Races are a truly iconic British sporting event, watched the world over. Cancer Research UK’s work has fuelled the progress that has seen cancer survival rates double in the last forty years. Today, two in four people survive cancer. Our ambition is to accelerate progress so that three in four people survive cancer by 2034 and this kind donation is a very welcome contribution to that aim.”
When do the Cancer Research UK Boat Races take place?
The Cancer Research UK Boat Races will take place on the River Thames on Sunday 27 March 2016. The Cancer Research UK Women’s Boat Race will take place at 3.10pm and The Cancer Research UK Boat Race at 4.10pm.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.