Rowing: Great Race between universities a curtain-raiser for rowing champs

The Great Gallagher race will be contested over 3.85km course at Lake Karapiro. Photo / Getty Images

The ninth annual Gallagher Great Race between Waikato University and England's Cambridge University will be staged on the Waikato River on September 5.

Cambridge won the annual Boat Race against Oxford University this year to secure their place in the race.

The event will tie in nicely as a lead-in to the world rowing championships, which start on Lake Karapiro on October 31.

It will be the fifth clash between the two universities over the 3.85km course, with the score standing at two-all. The last meeting was two years ago, when Cambridge won narrowly.

At the Henley Royal Regatta recently, Cambridge were well beaten by a New Zealand eight.

The provisional crew list from Cambridge is an international one, with athletes from Australia, Germany, the United States, Canada and Britain likely to be in the starting line-up.

Several candidates for the Waikato boat may be ruled out by their world championships involvement but it is still expected to contain past or future world champion rowers.

"Everyone is talking about rowing this year, with the world championships here and the continuing success of our international rowing teams abroad," Great Race organiser Rob Hamill said.

"Many of those athletes have raced the Great Race or have studied at the university, so it is only appropriate that it should kick off what will be an incredible period for rowing in the region in the last part of 2010."

The Waikato women will compete for the Bryan Gould Cup against old rivals Sydney University's top crew.