It will be a battle on the water between two of the giants of world university rowing in a men's eight at Lake Hayes today.
Otago University holds the Hebberley Shield and the club is the top university in New Zealand.
St Petersburg State University, the top university in Russia, will be in top form, after competing against Sydney University last week.
It is the first time a Russian university crew has competed in New Zealand and an even contest is expected in the three-test series.
The first test will be held over a 2km course at Lake Hayes this morning at 10am.
The second test will be a 5km race in Dunedin on Friday from the St Leonards Yacht Club to the Otago University Aquatics Centre.
The third test, over a 500m sprint, will be held on Otago Harbour the same day from 6pm.
An unusual scoring system has been devised to keep the crews honest.
''In tomorrow's race, 30 points will be awarded to the winner for every second they are in front of their opponents,'' Otago University Aquatics Centre chief executive Glen Sinclair said.
''Ten points will be awarded the winner for every second they are in front in the 5km race and 120 points for every second in front in the 500m.''
Otago University won the eights event at a 12-team international university regatta in Russia two years ago and this impressed Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov, who heads the St Petersburg University Rowing Club.
His friendship with Sinclair led to his accepting an invitation from the University of Otago to send a rowing crew to New Zealand.
''The test series would not have been possible without the support of Sir Eion Edgar and the University of Otago,'' Sinclair said.
New Zealand rowing has a high reputation in Russia after the success of crews at the London Olympics and at world championships over the past few years.
Otago University has a strong eight that includes New Zealand age-group representatives.
Stroke Mitchell Horner represented the New Zealand juniors in 2011 and Corey McCaffrey was in the New Zealand juniors last year.
Andrew Potter was a New Zealand junior in 2011 and was a member of the under-21 team this year. Bryce Abernethy was in the New Zealand under-21 crew this year.
Otago University v St Petersburg
Test series
Test one: Lake Hayes, 10am today (2km).
Test two: Otago Harbour, 9am Friday (5km).
Test three: Otago Harbour, 6pm Friday (500m).
Otago University: Mitchell Horner (stroke), Corey McCaffrey, Andrew Potter, Mark O'Connor, Liam Kettle, Adrian Riepen, Bryce Abernethy, Elliot Harvey, Sachin Arumbulamba (cox). Justin Evans (coach).
St Petersburg State University: Nikita Kulenyshev, Igor Koreshkov, Roman Vorotnikov, Victor Yanovskiy, Dmitrii Kuznetcov, Aleksandr Isakov, Dmitrii Golovin, Konstantin Beliaev. Igor Zotov (coach).
