Double Olympic champion Pete Reed admitted it was a team effort that ensured Great Britain ended on a high at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam after the men’s eight clinched gold.
Reed, along with Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell, Matt Tarrant, William Satch, Matt Gotrel, Paul Bennett, Tom Ransley, Constantine Louloudis and cox by Phelan Hill, crossed the line 5:24.11 minutes for victory ahead of Germany in second and Poland in third in the eight.
And Reed, who won gold in the men’s four at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics, says it was teamwork that made it all possible in the Netherlands.
"That was a crew effort", said Reed. "Everyone had their part to play and they all contributed.”
It was the second medal of the day and added to the bronze won earlier by the lightweight men’s four of Mark Aldred, Peter and Richard Chambers and Chris Bartley.
Their time of 5:49.58 was not enough however to topple reigning world champions Denmark who crossed over in 5:47.15 and New Zealand who finished second with 5:48.76.
"The aim was to go out hard. We set out for gold and we gave it our best shot", said Peter Chambers.
Elsewhere, the women’s eight were unable to match their male counterparts after they finished sixth in a race won by the USA with Canada in second and China third.
Two medals on the final day meant Britain come away with ten medals, two better than the eight won in 2013.
© Sportsbeat 2014