PORTERSVILLE — Moraine State Park will host this year's University Rowing Association Championship Regatta on April 1.

The competition will be at Big Run Cove on the south shore of the park and is an invitational regatta for university club crew programs at the NCAADivision IIIlevel. The crew clubs are from universities whose athletic programs compete in the University Athletic Association.

Ben Althof, coach of the Carnegie Mellon University club team, said the regatta was originally held in Indianapolis, but the Pittsburgh area was chosen as a more central location to the teams. He said rivers are too unpredictable in the spring, so Lake Arthur was a natural choice to have multiple boat races.

This will be the fourth straight year the state park will host the regatta.

In addition to Carnegie Mellon, crew clubs from Brandeis University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, Emory University, New York University, University of Rochester, and WashingtonUniversity will be competing in the 15-boat race. Althof said that about 400 to 500 rowers should be in attendance.

There will be 13 events with the first one beginning at 7:30 a.m. and the last starting at 10:40 a.m. Events include varsity, novice, lightweight, and junior varsity races for both men and women.

An awards presentation will end the day.

The men's teams will be competing for the Case Alumni Cup, while the women's teams will compete for the Chicago Alumni Cup.

In the tradition of collegiate championship racing, crews are expected to give their racing shirts to the winners of the events in which they participated.