The Boat Race Sustainability and Education Partner Announced

The Boat Race and GB Row Challenge announce a sustainability and education partnership for 2022.

This new partnership combines sport and scientific purpose and supports the ambition to use The Boat Race to inspire others because we believe in the transformative power of sport. We want to help build a better shared future and to operate in an way which promotes financial, social and environmental sustainability.


Starting on 12th June and lasting into July, GB Row Challenge is a 2,000 mile rowing race around Britain’s coastline, beginning and ending at London’s Tower Bridge.

As the competing crews row non-stop, unsupported, they will collect scientific data that is ground-breaking. Data on microplastics, temperature, sound and noise pollution and biodiversity, that together will create a unique insight into the multiple challenges facing British waters. It will also be the first time this has been done in a continuous loop around UK for all these different data sets.

Three boats of six will race in GB Row 2022 with two Boat Race alumni, Andrew Triggs-Hodge OBE and Robin Bourne-Taylor CGC, competing in the same crew. Andrew and Robin, both passionate about youth development through sport, are leading on the engagement between GB Row Challenge and The Boat Race.

This new partnership reflects the fact that sustainability is an important issue for The Boat Race and our student athletes and allows us to enhance what we can offer to the recipients of The Gemini Boat Race Bursary Scheme. The young people involved in the Bursary Scheme will be able to follow the GB Row Challenge in June remotely via an online tracker, and can form their own teams to compete on rowing machines, and other forms of exercise, to log a distance to complete against the racing crews. At the same time GB Row Challenge will be helping to share educational content to explain the conservational and environmental importance of looking after our waters.

Robin Bourne-Taylor (OUBC 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2005) said:

“It is great that Andy Triggs-Hodge and I can use the experience we have from The Boat Race to help our crew prepare for this challenge. Through all the teams competing this year, we want to inspire kids into rowing and giving them a way to connect a sport that they love to such an important environmental purpose.”

Tim Senior, Chair The Boat Race Company Limited, said:

“We are delighted to partner with GB Row in this way. Many of our student athletes have an academic as well as a personal interest in sustainability and being able to raise awareness of these important issues and help inform the next generation about the importance of the condition of the British coastline and our waters will help us build a better shared future.”

You can read more about GB Row Challenge here. https://www.gbrowchallenge.com