FORMER Cirencester Deer Park School pupil Peter Reed was pleased to ‘get one up’ on Great Britain’s biggest rivals for London 2012 gold in the second World Cup of the season in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Men’s four rower Reed - alongside Alex Gregory, Tom James and Andrew Triggs Hodge - took gold in 5:50.84 to beat Australia into second place with a huge burst in the final 20 strokes, with Greece finishing third.

It gave the quartet a timely boost ahead of the announcement of the Olympic squad on Wednesday, the day on which Swindon-born quadruple scull man Steve Rowbotham, who grew up in Cirencester until the age of 14, will also learn his fate.

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.

“That race reminded me a lot of the Olympic final from Beijing (when GB also came from behind to beat Australia).

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

“An exciting race and good for the event - really pleased to get one up.”

Meanwhile, Rowbotham and crewmates Charles Cousins, Tom Solesbury and Matthew Wells also edged out Australian opposition in the B final.

GB won the race in a time of 5:51.22, with the world champions second and the fast-finishing Ukraine coming home in third.