Helena Morrissey is the chief executive officer of Newton Asset Management and one of the founders of the 30 Per Cent Club, which is committed to bringing more women on to UK corporate boards.
She also has nine children — yes, nine — so clearly has all the time in the world for entering into new waters, so to speak.
Newton sponsored yesterday’s women’s boat race, won by Oxford, which took place on the Olympic rowing lake at Eton Dorney owing to adverse conditions in Henley.
The women’s race between the Light and Dark Blues will have one more year in Oxfordshire, where it has been held since 1927, before heading east along the Thames to join the men on the famous four-mile, 374-yard course between Putney and Mortlake — irritating protestors notwithstanding, of course.
Jubilation: Oxford rowers celebrate winning the women's boat race at Eton Dorney, sponsored by NewtonThe women have been receiving equal funding since September and, in two years’ time, will enjoy prominent billing live on the BBC and on race day itself, some 186 years after old school chums masterminded the first boat race in Henley in 1829.
‘When we first sponsored it I couldn’t believe there was no money in the women’s boat race at all,’ said Morrissey. ‘If you wanted to row for the university it actually cost you money; you had to pay to do it.
‘They had no coach. They could only go on the river when the men weren’t there.
‘It was a real indictment on the lack of opportunity in women’s sport which has been, in many ways, a poor relation to men’s in terms of funding.
Level pegging: The women's race has received the same funding to its male counterpart since September‘There’s still a long, long way to go but women can now have sporting aspirations, too.’
Morrissey’s argument was very black and white: if we’re going to sponsor the men’s race, we’re going to sponsor the women’s one as well. She sounds indignant at the mere suggestion it would be any other way. Morrissey does not divulge the costs involved, but one assumes the decision made financial sense, too.
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The Boat Race, an event that exudes privilege, pomp and circumstance like no other, might seem an unlikely cause to champion a step forward for sportswomen, but it is the tradition and rigmarole that makes this a particularly important development.
When Katherine Grainger returned from the Sydney Olympics in 2000 after winning Great Britain’s first medal in women’s rowing, a silver in the quad, she said someone came up to her and said: ‘We didn’t even know women rowed.’
You can understand why few — men or women — would want to, given the demands of a sport that has little time for finesse or creativity and commands absolute teamwork to succeed at the highest level.
Anna Watkins (left), with whom Grainger won gold so memorably in London in the double sculls, has said a family member tried to put her off rowing in case ‘she got big arms’. It’s all in the legs, of course, but sweeping generalisations have no time for small technicalities like that.
Watkins ploughed on regardless and, 12 years after Grainger came back from Australia with that silver medal, Britain’s women won their first Olympic gold medals since the sport was added to the programme in 1976 — three of them, in fact.
If the wheels of Oxford and Cambridge can creak slowly into action with regard to a sport as brutal and punishing as rowing, it feels like anything could happen.
WHAT THEY SAID
British athlete Lisa Dobriskey said she did not believe she was ‘competing on a level playing field’ in the Olympic 1500metres final in London and was roundly accused of sour grapes.
The gold medal-winner, Turkey’s Cakir Alptekin, is now facing a lifetime ban after ‘big abnormalities’ were found in her biological passport. Some might just owe Dobriskey an apology.
Accused: Lisa Dobriskey's opponent is facing a lifetime ban for 'big abnormalities' in her biological passportWHAT I'VE BEEN DOING THIS WEEK
Watched Wrexham win the FA Trophy with a 4-1 penalty shootout win over Grimsby.
On Saturday, Grimsby fans congregated in Trafalgar Square for a photo. ‘Which team is this?’ said a steward. ‘So are they in the Champions League, then?’ I wish.
Glory: Ecstatic Wrexham player-manager Andy Morrell celebrates with the FA TrophyGot exasperated at the persistent use of the phrase ‘pre-planned’ to describe Rio Ferdinand’s fitness programme. It is either planned or it is not, just like the defender’s ill-advised little jaunt to Doha.
Attended my first Women in Football meeting at Stamford Bridge on Friday after being, I admit, very dubious about the whole idea. I just want to be ‘in football’ rather than a ‘WiF’. I can’t tell you anything else owing to Chatham House rules, but it was certainly very, very interesting.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Arsenal Ladies beat ASD Torres 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at Boreham Wood.
Glad to see there’s still one English team fighting for the cause in Europe — and the women’s final is at Stamford Bridge this year, too. The second leg takes place in Sardinia on Wednesday.
More... £150m investment in primary school sport is arriving too late to inspire a generation Just one day after an England legend retires... another decides to hang up the boots Wrexham lift FA Trophy after toppling Grimsby in Wembley thriller 'Don't even go there': Boat Race director warns against following lead of Trenton Oldfield