Cancer Research UK has been named official sponsor of the boat races between Cambridge and Oxford Universities, after investment management companies Newton and BNY Mellon gifted their sponsorship to the charity.
The event's sponsorship gift was described as a “world first” by the boat racing partners BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management.
The deal will see the official name of the boat races change from BNY Mellon Boat Races to Cancer Research UK Boat Races, with the charity’s magenta and blue colours incorporated into the new logo.
The charity will also benefit from further support of its fundraising activities by the two firms in the build up to the Boat Races, including CRUK’s fitness challenge, the Great Row and its corporate version, the Greatest Row.
Harpal Kumar, chief executive of CRUK, said the charity was “enormously grateful to BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management for their generous donation”.
“The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races are a truly iconic British sporting event, watched the world over," he said. "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.”
David Searle, executive director of The Boat Race Company Ltd, said: “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.
“We are very grateful to BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management for this move and for their commitment to support their gesture by helping to raise significant sums of money for Cancer Research UK through the various events they are developing with us and the team at CRUK.”
The Cancer Research UK Boat Races will take place on the Championship Course on the River Thames between Putney and Chiswick Bridges on Sunday March 27th 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.
