Fundraising
BHF announced as charity partner for The Gemini Boat Race 2024
We're delighted to announce we are official charity partner for The Gemini Boat Race 2024.
The partnership is particularly poignant as it follows the tragic death of former Chair of The Boat Race Company, Tim Senior, who died of a cardiac arrest in 2023.
Together with the the Boat Race Company (BRCL) we hope the partnership will save lives by raising awareness of the risk of cardiovascular disease, and creating a lasting legacy by improving the chances of survival among spectators of The Boat Race, by encouraging them to learn CPR via our RevivR app.
Create a lasting legacy and save lives
The announcement comes as teams from Universities of Oxford and Cambridge approach the final stages of their preparations for the latest instalment in one of the world’s most famous annual sporting events, taking place in Putney on Saturday 30th March.
Chair of the Board of BRCL, Siobhan Cassidy, said: “Despite the rivalry between the two sides we are all united behind a shared goal; helping the British Heart Foundation save lives. Together we can raise vital funds for charity’s ground-breaking research and help ensure that everyone is aware of lifesaving CPR and improve survival rates not only in the rowing community but across the whole of the UK.”
The ultimate sibling rivalry
Hoping to compete in this year's race are identical twins, Catherine and Gemma King. Used to competing side by side since they began rowing aged 12 years old, Catherine and Gemma now face the possibility of racing against each other after Catherine moved to start studying her PhD at Oxford University in September 2023.
Both research scientists studying PhDs at their respective universities, Catherine and Gemma are thrilled help us launch this exciting partnership.
Specialising in regenerative medicine, Catherine’s research project focuses on how to minimise the damage to the heart tissue following heart attack. Her research could help the 270 people that suffer a heart attack each day in the UK and reduce the chances of them developing heart failure.
Catherine whose four-year PhD in cardiovascular science at the University of Oxford is being funded by us said: “It’s really exciting that the BHF is going to be the charity partner for The Boat Race. It combines the two great loves of my life! Rowing is such a big aspect of my life and now the sport will be helping to raise vital funds for research into heart and circulatory disease.”
Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive at the British Heart Foundation said: “Rowing, like research brings people together with a shared objective that can yield the incredible results. As research scientists, Catherine and Gemma King know better than anyone that medical breakthroughs are key to unlocking future treatments and cures to save and improve lives. Hearing that Catherine is one of the next generation of cardiovascular scientists making these discoveries is inspiring.
“Through our partnership for The Gemini Boat Race 2024, the BRCL and BHF will work to save and transform the lives of many more – by training a nation of lifesavers in CPR with RevivR, and by funding the world’s brightest minds at the BHF’s centres of research excellence at Oxford, Cambridge and universities across the UK."