IT WAS not just the tight-fitting uniform and undersized cap that induced the odd bead of sweat to cross the brow of sublieutenant Peter Reed last week. The arrival in London of HMS Ark Royal to mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands war provided an obvious chance to fuse the two lives of the naval officer and the double world rowing champion, but swapping one flagship boat for another was a more nervous exercise than Reed expected.

“Saluting is a bit of a problem,” he says. “My uniform was first fitted eight years ago when I signed up and I haven’t worn it for a year. It’s surprising how I’m filling the sleeves now.” Not entirely surprising, given the intense programme of training the British squad have endured through the winter. Reed was swiftly nicknamed “Commander” by his teammates and last Thursday, on a brief tour of duty on the Royal Navy’s most famous carrier, they were finding out why. “Whenever I’m sitting in the smaller boat, I’m proud to be representing the navy and now I can show the guys I’m closest to – Andy [Hodge], Steve [Williams] and Alex [Partridge] – a little bit about the life I signed up to at the age of 18,” he says.

“I’m quite a methodical, military character. In going through the officer training, I became more confident, determined and dedicated. I found out what teamwork is, and discipline. I can succeed in rowing because of what I learnt in the navy.” Reed is an impressive advertisement for the navy. He is still 25, but has seen active service on HMS Exeter in the second Gulf war, gained a masters degree in mechanical engineering from Oxford University, has a decent classical repertoire on the piano and been an integral part of an unbeaten 27-race run through two seasons with the British coxless four.

He began rowing as an undergraduate at the West of England University, progressed swiftly to the heart of the Oxford Blue boat stroked by Hodge and announced himself as a potential member of the elite British squad by partnering Hodge to victory in the 2005 squad trials. A new order had begun without Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent or James Cracknell, and Reed was at its heart. Soon afterwards, in a test result that didn’t mean much to him at the time, he registered a lung capacity of 9.38 litres, a whole litre and a bit bigger than Pinsent. The sport itself took a lungful of air and strode confidently into the postPinsent era. Two years on, Reed remains unbeaten in any event, international or trials. At the start of the year he and Hodge took 20 seconds out of their rivals in an internal pairs trial.

“You have to remind yourself at times that Pete’s only been in the squad for two years,” says his regular roommate, Steve Williams, the Olympic champion. “What he can do now is phenomenal. He’s the strongest man in the boat, but will be superhuman in a few years.” The extra intake of oxygen allows Reed to breathe once a stroke as opposed to normal athletes, who need two or even three breaths per stroke. Over a 2,000m rowing course, that is a considerable advantage. This weekend in Amsterdam, in a radical move typical of Jurgen Grobler, the head coach of the GB men’s squad, the Camelot-sponsored coxless four have been merged into an eight along with the pair, Colin Smith and Matt Langridge, and two younger members of the squad, Marcus Bateman and James Orme. “Just a bit of fun,” says Grobler, but the short-term shift of personnel is more subtle than that, depriving the Dutch, their most persistent rivals, of another crack at the British four on their home waters and allowing the British crew to relinquish their long unbeaten sequence with dignity.

The appearance of a rival British eight will also concentrate the minds of the official eight, who showed patchy form in Linz, while Bateman and Orme will gain a priceless introduction to Olympic-level competition. Everyone, it seems, will benefit.

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