PETE REED expressed himself satisfied with the runners-up position in an ultra competitive men's pair final at the GB Rowing team trials at Caversham on Sunday.

Dual Olympic champion Reed, a former Cirencester Deer Park student, and his partner Constantine Louloudis gave best only to Alex Gregory and Moe Sbihi, both reigning world champions in the men’s four.

Gregory and Sbihi were winning a high calibre final that might have graced a world championship, for the second year running.

Nailsworth’s Reed and Louloudis – fresh from his Boat Race victory with Oxford just eight days earlier – are a new partnership.

But they were still good enough to power through the last 100m to beat 2012 Olympic bronze-medallists George Nash and Will Satch for second place.

Chipping Campden rower Matt Gotrel – who, like Reed, is a current world champion in the men’s eight – finished a fine fourth with Paul Bennett.

Reed won Olympic four gold with Gregory at London 2012 and was quick to praise the victorious pair.

“Alex and Moe have been the class act for the past couple of seasons,” he said. “There is no weakness in that pair and they are setting a very high benchmark for us all.

“The A final of our trials is one of the strongest events in world rowing, the standard is so very high. I see the guys training every day, how hungry they are for their Olympic seats and medals.”

Reed was also delighted with the performance of himself and Louloudis, especially as they had just a week after the Boat Race to prepare.

“Stan did a great job for Oxford just eight days ago and I know how hard it is coming down from the Boat Race and preparing for the trials,” he added.

“We’ve had help from Sean Bowden, Stan’s old coach, in the last week to catch up and I think we did a great job. I thoroughly enjoyed it, actually. That’s as well as we could have done today.

“From my experience, this is the most stressful and tense time of the whole season, even compared to the world championships. Battling against your mates for a seat is extremely tense and the standard in the final today was higher than I have ever experienced. It was an outstanding field.”

The GB squad for the European Championships will be announced on May 13.