Women will enjoy Boat Race equality from 2015 with Henley ditched in favour of Thames setting

The Boat Race is to enter the age of sexual equality from 2015 with the women’s crews from Oxford and Cambridge being given the same billing as the men in Britain’s highest profile student sporting fixture.

The women’s race is to be moved from its current home of Henley, where a few thousand spectate, to be staged within an hour of the men’s race along the Thames, which is lined annually with around 250,000 and enjoys a TV audience of seven million.

The move, announced on Wednesday, has come under the terms of a new sponsorship with finance company BNY Mellon, and will involve BBC coverage of both races. The current race between reserve crews Isis and Goldie will stay, although it will present logistical challenges as there is a limited tidal window on the day.

Girl power: Oxford celebrate winning last year's race in Henley

In terms of equal opportunity at high profile sports events it is perhaps the biggest shift since women tennis players were given parity in prize money at Wimbledon in 2007.

Annie Vernon, a gold medal hopeful in the Four this year, silver medallist in Beijing and Cambridge Blue in 2003, said: 'Investment is what makes success. All the things we take for granted on the GB team haven’t been there at university level but now they’ll be able to upgrade everything.

'When I was rowing for Cambridge in 2003 we were rowing out of a lean-to at the side of the boathouse and the men had a purpose-built affair with a heated floor. I had no problem with that, the men have had their boat race for 150 years and it’s one of the most iconic events in the British sporting calendar,' she said.

'I’m thrilled that the women’s Boat Race will be given equal status. The sport of rowing is fortunate to have a Boat Race watched around the world and this is hugely positive for women’s rowing and Cambridge rowing.

'It’s the ultimate team sport and the Boat Race is the ultimate expression of that with two teams going head to head on one of the most famous rivers in the world. This provides a fantastic opportunity to grow women’s rowing in this country and I’m very excited about the inaugural event in 2015.'