The Oxford and Cambridge crews for the 2008 Boat Race will be unveiled this week ahead of the 154th Race that takes place on The Thames on 29 March.

In traditional fashion on Wednesday (5 March), Oxford president Nick Brodie will offer a Challenge to Cambridge president, Dan O’Shaughnessy for the two University Boat Clubs to race on the famous Tideway course in three week’s time, before naming their respective Blue boat crews.

For the first time, this year’s Boat Race Challenge and crew announcement will take place amid the setting of the 2008 National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC) at the Evolution Site in London’s Battersea Park.

Around 1,000 young rowers from across the country will be present to witness the unveiling of the two line-ups and also compete in a special Boat Race competition that offers them a rare chance to watch the event from one of the boats that follows the Race.

As well as hundreds of youngsters encouraged by the London Youth Rowing organisation, the competitors include young rowers from the highly-successful Birmingham Indoor Rowing Project, plus centres in Manchester, Plymouth, Peterborough, Northumberland and Jersey.

The Championships will feature 40 Concept 2 ergo rowing machines and one eager competitor Fazila Husain, is travelling thousands of miles from her home in Chennai, India, just to take part.

In order to keep the competitors entertained during the day, the organisers from London Youth Rowing have arranged a skate park, wall climbing and circus entertainers who can teach them how to juggle and also walk the tightrope.

Details can be found at www.londonyouthrowing.com/events/njirc.

The Boat Race, sponsored by Xchanging, will take place at 17:15 on Saturday, 29 March 2008 and will be broadcast live on ITV1 from 16.15.