16 February: Olympic champion Pete Reed moved swiftly back to his winning ways when he won the men's pairs at the next leg of GB trials, held at Boston, Lincolnshire.
The Leander athlete, who is currently seconded from the Royal Navy to pursue his sporting ambitions, lost no time in returning to full time training after confirming his intention to compete at London 2012.
Partnered by Alex Gregory, the Reading University student who travelled to Beijing as the spare man, Reed powered home almost 18 seconds clear of his Leander clubmate, former U23 medallist Tom Wilkinson, who was partnered by Reading's Dan Ritchie.
Meanwhile Ian Lawson moved up a couple of notches in the men's single sculls, the event in which the Leander athlete represented GB in the Athens Olympics. Lawson beat Andy Triggs-Hodge, who stroked the Beijing gold medal four, but both men were beaten to the line by Alan Campbell, the Tideway Scullers athlete who was fifth in Beijing.
The Boston trials are part of a regular series of assessments, on and off the water, which run right through the winter. Only after the series is over will the crews be selected for the first World Cup regatta of the season at Banyoles, Spain, which marks the first stepping stone to this year's world championships in Poland.
Many Leander Olympians are taking time out of rowing, including silver medallist Debbie Flood, who is shortly to take up a position at the Young Offenders Institution in Huntercombe. Mark Hunter, who won Britain's first-ever Olympic lightweight title partnered by Zac Purchase in the double scull, is still coaching on the US West Coast, while Olympic champion Steve Williams has yet to make up his mind about his future.
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