NAILSWORTH’S Peter Reed helped Great Britain’s men’s four to gold glory at the World Rowing Cup event in Lucerne on Sunday.

The men’s four of Reed, Alex Gregory, Tom James and Andrew Triggs-Hodge produced the most dramatic British win, coming from half a length behind Australia to take the lead in the final 20 strokes and eventually win by over a second.

Reed said : “We had a feeling before the race that they would try to do something special. That’s the way they raced in Bled last year and in the Olympic final as well.

“The Australian boat is always very classy but moving past them in the last 500 (metres) is something we hadn’t seen from our crew yet and that can be massively improved.”

Earlier, the Australian men’s four, including three-times Olympic champion, Drew Ginn, decided to lay down the gauntlet early in the Lucerne final. By 500m they had a half-length lead over the British boat.

By the halfway point the roles remained the same and Australia must have scented victory. Hearts were in British mouths on the banks of the Rotsee and a superb display of strength and power the GB quartet upped their game and overhauled the Australians in the final 20 strokes to take the win in 5:50.84 from 5:51.98 for Australia’s silver. Greece were third in 5:56.61.