The iconic Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race will be renamed to the “Chanel J12 Boat Race” next year due to a long-term partnership with luxury brand Chanel. The race has been named after Chanel’s J12 line of high-end watches, with prices from £5,000 to £122,000. Funding from the Chanel partnership will go towards training, equipment, and construction.
The sponsorship is set to last until 2029, with Frederic Grangie, president of Chanel watches and fine jewellery, : “We are delighted to sign a strategic partnership with The Boat Race who share the same values of collective endeavour and the pursuit of excellence.” “Synchronicity in rowing is as crucial to the race as watchmaking craftsmanship to ensure accurate timing. Every rower, like every mechanism in a watch, must work together as one; the balance, the weight and the oar movements must all be impeccably timed,” Grangie also The men’s Boat Race will have its 200th anniversary in 2029, and the women’s race will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
The brand will be the official timekeepers of the race in a nod to the J12 watches which have become the namesake of the iconic event. Chanel are the first timekeepers in the race’s history. The sponsorship comes after the previous sponsor, a crypto marketplace called Gemini, for bankruptcy in January 2023.
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