News filtered through on Wednesday that from 2015, the annual women's boat race will take place on the same day and the same course as 'The Boat Race'. This is both heartily welcomed and long overdue.
Everybody knows of 'The Boat Race', of course. Every year around the Easter period, a selection of very good rowers from Oxford and Cambridge - usually studying an obscure subject to justify their place at the university - slog their guts out on the Thames for about 20 minutes to batter their opponents into exhausted defeat. This annual event has been going since 1829, and has produced some tremendously exciting finishes.
For the winners, all that glory can offer them awaits, while the losers have to face up to knowing that the excruciating hard work and effort they have poured into the race have ultimately been fruitless. If the rowers themselves do not realise this, the BBC usually do a good job of pointing it out at various points throughout their extensive coverage of the event.
Less well known is the women's Boat Race. First raced in 1927, it underwent a revival in the 1970s and has taken place on the same day as the lightweight crews at Henley since 1977. It generally happens about a week or so before 'The Boat Race', with no television coverage, sometimes a report from a student newspaper, and not much fuss. For me, this just does not make sense.
Such illumination of the men's event while other races occur in the shadows of popular obscurity appears a throwback to the old, heady days when women were regarded as socially inferior. Thus, the decision to move the women's race to Tideway can only be seen as positive - for many reasons.
For Annie Vernon, a Cambridge graduate and Olympic silver-medalist, the move can only improve women's rowing at a professional level. As a Guardian article points out:
"A total of 19 current or former Oxford students competed in the rowing regatta - under the flags of various countries including the UK - at the 2008 Games in Beijing, winning eight medals, but of those just three were women, the best of whom finished fifth. In 2004 their eight rowers won four medals for various countries, but the one woman finished ninth in a semi-final."
The increased funding and prominence that the decision brings can only be good for British rowing in general. Perhaps in future, there may be some female names to add to the likes of Redgrave and Pinsent in Olympic rowing folklore.
It is also a refreshing tug into modernity for Oxbridge. Much criticised for their pompous traditions and outdated image, the moving of the women's race gives an equal footing and representation to both sexes. And the girls themselves deserve it. They dedicate themselves wholly to their race just as the boys do - it seems right that this should be rewarded in the same public arena.
And of course, it is an extra pleasure for the viewing public. The race will of course go down well with Oxonians and Cantabs, another excuse to cheer their side and jeer their rival. However, it is difficult to see it not being enjoyed by all who tune in to watch the annual event, less because of any notions of a greater equality or the prospect of more Olympic medals, just because it will be exciting to watch.
I can't pretend to be a fan of equality of the sexes in all sports, tennis being a particular gripe. It baffles me that Victoria Azarenka, for spending 72 minutes on the court and playing 15 games in her final, should get the same prize money as Novak Djokovic, who outlasted Radael Nadal in 55 games and 353 minutes of epic tennis. It is an argument for another day, but crassly simplifying, I - along with some others - find women's tennis simply less enjoyable in quantity and quality. To give equal pay when enjoyment doesn't balance up seems silly.
Rowing can be seen more in the line of athletics though. For instance, nobody turns off the women's 100 metres, because the contest - while admittedly slower than the men's race - is absorbing nonetheless, something that can't always be said for tennis. In Cambridge, an annual college rowing highlight sees divisions of boats starting an equal distance apart and trying to catch each other. Male and female divisions alternate to race, and there is no lesser support for the latter for the very reason that the contests are just as good, often better.
With the quality of female rowing and the efforts invested into the sport, it is fitting - and not before time - that it will share the stage with 'The [Other] Boat Race', and I for one can't wait. Roll on 2015!