The University of Otago heavyweight rowing eight will join other elite university crews from around the world at an invitation international rowing regatta in China in May.
"It's very exciting for rowing and the university to be invited to this prestigious event in such grand company," manager of the University of Otago Development Office Kathy Young told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
The Otago university eight will be pitted against the "big boys" of world student rowing, including ivy league crews from Yale and Washington in the United States.
Other university crews invited include Oxford, Sydney, Milan, Shanghai, and Peking and Tsinghuia from Beijing.
The regatta will be held in the Chengdu Province, close to the spot where a massive earthquake shook China last year. It will be held on May 2 and 3.
A crew of eight and two reserves will travel on the all-expenses-paid trip to China. Three officials will travel with the team.
Thirty rowers are currently trialling with the university club for the 10 spots to go to China.
"Willie Shaw, a member of the New Zealand university crew last year, transferred his studies from Waikato to Otago to try to make the team," chief executive of the Otago University Rowing Club Glen Sinclair said.
This is the first time this international regatta has been held in China.
A similar regatta used to be held in Taiwan for lightweight crews and Otago university competed in this from 1998 to 2006.
The International Collegiate Invitational Regatta attracted lightweight eights from many of the world's top universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and Harvard.
In 2000, Otago finished sixth and showed it was at home in elite company, finishing ahead of Yale, Oxford and Cambridge.
Sydney won the eights that year, with University of Melbourne and Harvard taking second and third spots in the 14-team event.
Otago university rowers built a strong record in the annual Taiwanese event, finishing sixth in 2000 and winning the "B" final to take fifth in 1998.
