WORLD Champions Pete Reed,  Alex Gregory and Matt Gotrel will be looking to take another giant step closer to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when the GB Rowing Team Senior and U23 Trials take place this weekend.

A host of West Country rowers will be looking to put in strong performances and secure their place in the British boats ahead of this summer’s World Championships, which double as an Olympics and Paralympics qualification regatta.

Wormington’s Gregory and partner Moe Sbihi – both of whom were in GB Rowing Team’s all-conquering four last year – are looking to win the men’s pair title for a second successive year at the Trials in Caversham.

However, they face stiff competition from a world-class field which includes Nailsworth rower Reed – who won Olympic four gold with Gregory at London 2012 – in partnership with Constantine Louloudis, fresh from his fourth Boat Race win in five years with Oxford University.

Nailsworth’s Reed was part of the men’s eight which won gold at last year’s World Championships along with Chipping Campden rower Gotrel, who partners Paul Bennett – another member of that triumphant crew – at this weekend’s event.

Leading the local challenge in the women’s single scull will be Gloucester Olympian Beth Rodford, whose opponents include four-time Olympic medalist Katherine Grainger on her return to the sport.

Amongst the newcomers to watch this weekend will be Cambridge Boat Race contestant Holly Hill, from Slimbridge.

She is developing strongly as part of the GB Rowing Team Start programme and will be challenging for World U23 consideration when she races in the open women’s pair event with Melissa Wilson.

Cheltenham’s Emily Carmichael will partner Emily Ashford in an impressive field featuring World and Olympic champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning.

Gloucester Hartpury’s Flo Pickles – who recorded the fastest U20 and U23 times at the GB Rowing Team Winter Assessment in February – will be looking to impress again in the lightweight women’s single scull.

Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said: “We will have 13 current World Champions in action at the weekend across the squads and everyone will really want to be on top form to impress so the racing should be truly world class.

“We are moving into the sharp end of the four-year cycle with 2016 Olympic and Paralympic qualification at stake for our boats at the World Championships in France in September.”