Stomach bug thwarts British bid

Andrew Hodge Triggs (left) had to withdraw from the team

Great Britain's men's four saw their World Championship chances thrown into chaos after they were forced to pull out of the Henley Royal Regatta.

Andrew Triggs-Hodge had to withdraw with a mystery stomach upset denying the crew a run-out ahead of the World Championships at Eton next month.

Team-mate Steve Williams said: "We haven't been beaten this season and it would have been a mistake to race.

"It wouldn't have been fair on the crowd to see us not on our best form."

The crew of Triggs-Hodge, Williams, Alex Partridge and Peter Reed will head to the World Cup third stage, taking place in Lucerne, next weekend.

Williams admitted a substitute for Triggs-Hodge may be necessary but said he wasn't worried about their form.

He said: "I don't think we need the racing for racing sake. I think we're pretty fit and I don't think it would be a mistake to miss a racing weekend.

"At the moment, we're the best. We're unbeaten, and people learn more from racing us than vice-versa, so we don't need to race."

In other results Oxford Brookes and Reading Universities defeated Molesey and Imperial College - who featured former Olympic gold medallists Jonny and Greg Searle - in a thrilling Visitors' Challenge Cup final.

The GB women's quadruple sculls, racing as Marlow RC and University of London, easily defeated University of London in the Princess Grace Challenge Cup.

And York City RC failed to cap their first ever final day appearance with a win as they lost to Army RC in the Britannia Challenge Cup by one-and-three-quarter lengths.