TWO giants of University rowing will be battling it out this weekend to be crowned champions of the North.

The Boat Race of the North will take place on the Tyne at the Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside on Saturday [May 7].

The annual event, which was relaunched last year, will see Durham University Boat Club and Newcastle University Boat Club racing through the heart of Newcastle to be crowned champions of the North.

Last year's event was the first in more than five years.

The contest is raced over 1,500 metres, from Redheugh to the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, taking in some of the North East’s most iconic landmarks along the way.

Students from Durham University’s Boat Club took time out of their last minute revision for exams, which start on Monday, to train.

Wade Hall-Craggs, Durham’s coach, said: "It's an awkward time with exams starting on Monday so the timing isn't great. For us it’s an important window on the sport in the region.

“The setting is phenomenal. They’ll be coming through the Tyne bridges which is amazing for spectators. It’s got to be in the top three iconic images of the North-East.”

This year there will be six races in total with both universities fielding a first and second ranked eight-oared crew from their men’s and women’s squads, each racing head to head.

There will also be an alumni race, with crews made up of past students, and a local derby showdown between Tyne Rowing Club and Tyne United Rowing Club.

Barnaby Stroud-Turp, Newcastle University Boat club president, said: "The Tyne provides an amazing waterway in which to race, it is great to see the city from a riverside perspective and have crowds lining the Quayside and cheering us on. Last year’s event was the first staged in over five years; it proved popular with the competitors and public alike so we are keen to make it an annual fixture.

"We’d encourage everyone to get down to the Quayside to watch the North East’s version of the Oxford/Cambridge boat race.”

Races start at 3.30pm and go on until 4.45pm.