Rowing: Coxless four shake off Denmark's lightweights

The British men's rowing team made a confident start to the season at their first international regatta, winning four out of five events entered on both Saturday and Sunday in Cologne.

The coxless four of Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell, Steve Williams and Toby Garbett won both their finals, their only serious opposition coming from Denmark's top lightweight crew, who have always relished hounding the British heavyweights.

On Saturday the Danes had led the fours for the first 500 metres, taking Britain by surprise with their fast start and rattling the heavyweights until they settled to a strong mid-race rhythm and allowed their power to bring them through into a length's lead.

In calmer conditions on Sunday, Pinsent's crew rose to the challenge and held the Danes at the start, before again settling and rowing away to four seconds clear.

The men's team has a geographical basis at the moment, until student commitments and mending injuries release key oarsmen to their selected crews, so Williams and Garbett's world champion crew-mate Rick Dunn raced in Cologne with his Cambridge University Blues partner Josh West. The duo took pointed revenge on their Boat Race rivals Robin Bourne-Taylor and Ben Burch, winning the coxless pairs by 10 and 12 seconds on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Scullers Peter Gardner and Ian Lawson also found double success, winning the double sculls confidently on both days.

The men's eight, based around five of last year's crew, had a slightly rockier ride. On Saturday they successfully defeated a Danish crew containing four world lightweight champions, but the same crew turned the tables on them yesterday, and reversed the result, as the Britons tried a new race strategy.

In the men's single sculls, illness saw Simon Cottle replace Matthew Wells on both days. Beaten into fourth on Saturday, Cottle picked himself up for the second day and paced his final beautifully to finish first by three seconds. "I hope this will lead on to better things in the season," he said.

An Under-23 British women's eight racing at the Opening Day Regatta in Seattle finished third, 17 seconds behind the dominant University of Washington students.