Nailsworth's Reed makes gold standard (From Stroud News and Journal)

Nailsworth's Reed makes gold standard

NAILSWORTH'S Peter Reed and Great Britain's men's four struck gold for the second time in their World Cup campaign at Munich on Sunday.

Reed was joined by Olympic champion Steve Williams, Alex Partridge, who missed Athens through illness, and stroke Andy Hodge.

The quartet were never headed and won in a time of six minutes 20.97 seconds, more than five seconds clear of second-placed Italy.

A delighted Reed said: "I am really enjoying rowing with this crew - it is so easy and I love being here in Munich. The conditions are good, the crowd is good and we get so much support from our team. We get massages and everything. I feel spoiled."

The coxless four were awesome, taking a length lead in 200 metres and gaining clear water long before the 500m mark was reached. They finished six seconds ahead of the Italians, and are now undefeated in five races. Ireland's crew, formed as a wild card six weeks ago, took third place ahead of two German boats. This is the first heavyweight Irish crew to reach a medal podium in 20 years.

An appreciative clap with a German dog howling her disappointment welcomed Great Britain to the finish line with Italy remaining in second and Ireland forced to take their rating to 40 strokes per minute to hold off Germany's Under-23 crew.

Reed's team-mate Partridge added: "We have to be excellent - it's not enough to be good. It only takes one crew to challenge us, and there are more to come."