“Like explaining the theory of relativity to my dog”

ted in female competition.

It was far from the only absurdity in this row. Edwards became a symbol of sporting bravery, overcoming the terror of the high seas and the chauvinism of male opponents convinced that her boat would sink before it even rounded The Needles off the Isle of Wight, but some of those honouring her feats on stage were frightened simply to be in the same room as her, for fear of being exposed to views they deemed transphobic.

Two members of the production team, she reveals, resigned over Edwards’ gender-critical beliefs before the opening night. Certain crew members, she was told, were worried about being introduced to her at the after-party. “Truly,” she says, “there aren’t enough eye-rolls in the world. It was just the vindictiveness of it, the nastiness. They didn’t protest the night before, or the night after, only the night I was there.

“They don’t understand the rights they are giving away, or how hard we had to fight for those rights. What I wish they would realise is that they stand on the shoulders of giants. It is not just me, but the Maiden crew, the people who got us there, my mother’s generation, my grandmother’s generation. They have all given something to the movement for the 100-plus years since the suffragettes. All have done one or two things that have pushed us that little bit further.”

And now the sad little cast members, who understand nothing of this, demonstrate about the importance of being nice to the men who want to take all this away.

“I always thought that sport would be the jimmy that forced the whole thing open,” Edwards says. “The problem is expressed so visually in sport, by the sight of a huge man towering over a tiny woman on a cycling podium.

“I know from sailing with men, when I’ve been the only woman on the boat, that the physical, immediate, explosive power of men can be shockingly extraordinary, and they can summon it at a moment’s notice. As women, we know this power dynamic to our cost – that you can be fit and strong, but that the bloke can still pulverise you.”

She is implacable, in the face of constant abuse and belittling by trans activists. “There’s no point arguing with them,” she shrugs. “It’s like explaining the theory of relativity to my dog.”

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