From the chilly Dunedin winter to the Chinese heat - the Otago University Rowing Club's eight will compete in an international universities regatta next month.
The crew leaves for China on August 12, and will race in Chengdu on August 15 and Wuhan a week later.
Competition consists of two 1000m races in both Chengdu and Wuhan.
With the Otago University Rowing Club's senior eight training for national under-21 and RPC trials next month, the club's second eight will compete.
Coached by Scott Gullery, the majority of the crew raced at the national universities rowing championships in Wanganui in April, where they finished third overall.
In addition to teams from four Chinese universities, teams from English universities Oxford and Cambridge will compete.
Crews from Germany, Italy, the United States and Russia will also be there.
Otago university coxswain and club captain Sachin Arulambalam said the crew would train in a heat chamber next week to get comfortable with the 30degC heat they would race in.
''It's been a bit hard because everyone goes away for the break and exam period, but the last three weeks we have had some solid training, which has been really good,'' he said.
''We have got another 10 to 12 days before we head off, so it's looking good.''
Arulambalam, a third-year physical education and commerce student at the University of Otago, has competed in Australia and Russia in the past.
He was the coxswain of the Otago university crew which competed in a three-race series in St Petersburg last September.
His crew won the series 2-1, but only after he took evasive action to narrowly avoid colliding with a tourist boat in the third and decisive race.
St Petersburg State University will compete in China, and will also be in Dunedin in September for the third annual series between the two universities.
Arulambalam and his crew are training daily for next month's regatta, and the coxswain is looking forward to racing against some major universities.
''It's a big regatta. It's going to be very competitive racing against some of the most internationally recognised universities in the world. We feel pretty privileged to be invited ourselves,'' he said.
Otago University Rowing Club director Glen Sinclair said about 50% of the trip was paid for by the hosts, and the crew would be treated like rock stars during the stay.
Universities Regatta
Otago university's men's eight
Eachann Bruce, Kit Croxford, Simon Early, Joe Bennion, Oliver Tyro, James Haig, Stephen Vanderpeet, David Ravine, coxswain Sachin Arulambalam, reserve Grant Carroll.
