KEY POINTS:
The last time Mahe Drysdale shared water with Olaf Tufte was in the dramatic Olympic single scull final in Beijing in August.
The Norwegian won his second consecutive gold medal on the Shunyi course; Drysdale, the three-time world champion, won a gallant bronze as a debilitating illness left him exhausted and unable to hold the lead he had with 500m to race.
Next week the pair will square off on the Whanganui River in the Billy Webb Centennial Challenge, to mark the hundredth anniversary of Webb's defence of his world sculling title on that stretch of river.
The course is about 5km - around 3km longer than the traditional sculling course - but Drysdale likes the format.
"It's a bit different, but very exciting," he said yesterday. "This is a format I really love. I've done it a lot when overseas, and having Olaf out here for a couple of weeks is awesome."
Tufte is on his first visit to New Zealand, so the pair are combining a spot of sightseeing with speaking engagements before beginning preparations in Wanganui from next Tuesday ahead of the race on December 7. A third sculler, to be decided by a raceoff two days earlier, will complete the field and while the course has a couple of bends in it, Drysdale doesn't predict any major manoeuvring issues.
"There are two big straights and the corners aren't exactly windy, and there's certainly enough room so it won't be too much advantage with which side of the course you're on," he said.
"Neither of us likes losing to the other so it will be competitive and I'm picking it's going to be a pretty tight race."
