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Women giving orders at Aus Boat Race

When the Sydney and Melbourne University rowing clubs started racing each other there were no women's teams.

Now, more than 150 years on, women are giving the orders.

The clubs' rivalry stretches back to 1860, more than a hundred years before women's rowing was added to the Olympics, and will on Sunday be reignited for the fifth Australian Boat Race.

This year will be the second time the Melbourne's men's team has been coxed by a woman.

The woman giving the orders, Samantha Sloss, says it's now common practice for women to cox men's teams.

"I think it just comes down to they need a cox and it can be either sex as long as they're small and the right weight," she told AAP.

"It's sort of been quite smooth. I've just kind of moved into the role without much confrontation(from other rowers)."

Last year, Sarah Banting led the university's men's team to their first victory since the event started in 2009.

She'll cox the women's team this year under captain Jennifer Cleary, who says she still notices a difference between the men and women's events despite more females taking up the sport.

"Women haven't been in rowing for very long at all," Clearly told AAP.

"I don't think there are as many girls... and even in the Olympics there isn't as many women's boats as there are men's boats."

Melbourne University have won the Australian Boat Race's women's event every year since its inception in 2009.

But, that could change this Sunday, with Sydney's improved team enjoying a strong home advantage on the Harbour's choppy waters.

"We're definitely going to give Melbourne a challenge. We're definitely hungry for the win," Sydney women's captain Rebecca Humphris told AAP.

"I rode in the boat race last year and it was definitely a race where we went in and we knew we weren't going to win."

"This year... we've definitely established ourselves and we know what we're going to do."

The Melbourne and Sydney clubs contributed eight olympians to the 20212 London Games.

The Universities' men's teams began regular interstate competitions in 1870, when Australia's first Prime Minister Edmund Barton was in the Sydney team.

Sydney's men have won the race three times but lost last year after coming off second best in an oar clash.

The event route alternates between the Yarra River and Sydney Harbour and this year will run 4.4 km from Woolwich to Darling Harbour.