Golden rower Reed is oar-some (From Stroud News and Journal)

Golden rower Reed is oar-some

NAILSWORTH'S Peter Reed and the British men's four won their thirteenth consecutive international race of this year and took the World Championships title with it in Gifu, Japan.

The four led from early on holding off the Dutch and Canadians at the finish.

"They all threw everything at us in the middle of the race but Steve (Williams) just called it and we didn't let up,"said Reed.

"We found our rhythm in that second- half and the others tried to put us under pressure but it didn't work," added Reed.

"Our men's four performance today was exceptional. This was always going to be a hard call despite their early season success and, with a blistering third quarter, they were able to destroy the challenging Dutch and Canadian crews to produce one of the best gold medals in the long history of GB men's fours. They are worthy successors to our Athens crew", said GB team manager David Tanner.

Earlier, the British men's four used their trademark tactics of storming into a lead early in their World Championships final. They were tracked by the Netherlands and Canada with the USA, considered one of the main threats, droppingback early in the race.

The question was, could they hold onto their shape under any pressure which might be throwntheir way in the second part of the race?

An answer to the chasing Dutch and Canadians came between 1000-1500m when the British turned up the speed.