Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital Charity is making a splash for women and poorly babies by joining forces with sports apparel brand Gymshark, as sponsor, for the charity’s sixth annual Dragon Boat Race.
Gymshark will join over sixty businesses from across the West Midlands, taking to the canal at Mailbox Birmingham on 17-18 September 2026 for some friendly competition and fundraising impact. The annual event’s cumulative fundraising total is now over £1.1 million.
The iconic sports apparel brand helped the charity get their first Dragon Boat off the ground in 2021 and has been taking part in the fun-fuelled race ever since. Gymshark continues to make a difference for the hospitals’ patients, raising an incredible £650,000-plus for the cause to date, with Founder and CEO Ben Francis also celebrating five years of being one of the charity’s Patrons.
This year’s Dragon Boat will be supporting Birmingham Women’s Hospital Charity’s £1.5m MRI Appeal to bring a state-of-the-art MRI scanner to the hospital for the very first time. Around 1,300 women and babies at Birmingham Women’s Hospital require an MRI scan every year, but currently have to travel to the next nearest available site with an MRI.
Helen Miles, Head of Partnerships and Major Donors at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “We’re thrilled to have Gymshark come on board as sponsor of our Dragon Boat Race this year. Over the years, the company and its staff have shown a real commitment to making a difference to the treatment and care we offer women, babies, children and families across the city, region and country, led by Ben Francis who became our first charity patron in 2021.
“With help from Gymshark and community-minded businesses like them, we smashed our £1m cumulative fundraised target last year. We hope to raise even more this year, making life better for poorly women and babies by bringing a state-of-the-art MRI scanner to our Women’s Hospital.”
Cat Bromley, who leads Charity Partnerships at Gymshark, said: “The Dragon Boat Race is always a brilliant day, and we’re really proud to be sponsoring it this year. It feels like a real full-circle moment for us, having helped get the very first Dragon Boat Race off the ground five years ago and seeing how much the event has grown since.
“Birmingham is our home, so being able to rally the Gymshark team and other local businesses around a cause that will make such a tangible difference to women, babies and families in our community is really special.
The MRI Appeal is an incredibly important cause, and we’re excited to get behind it, get out on the water and hopefully help make this year’s event the biggest one yet.”
To learn more about our MRI Appeal and donate, visit bwh.org.uk/mri