Chambers brothers relishing lightweight double challenge

Coleraine brothers Richard and Peter Chambers are looking forward to a new challenge as they scull together in the lightweight double at this weekend's World Cup regatta at Eton Dorney.

The event is a first step on the road to Rio 2016 but is also preparation for August's world championships in Korea.

"We row quite similarly so as soon as we jumped in the boat we were able to gel quite quickly," said Richard.

"We were then able to move on to the more technical aspects of going fast."

"We feel comfortable in the boat so we were able to set a very high standard which was good. At the end of the day we're just two guys in a boat, the fact that we're brothers doesn't make that much difference"

The second World Cup regatta of the season sees the cream of rowing talent return to the scene of last year's London 2012 Olympics.

Richard, the elder of the siblings, is a double world champion in the lightweight four while Peter won a world title in the non-Olympic class lightweight pair two years ago and the duo were half of the Great Britain quartet that took silver behind South Africa in that thrilling finish last summer.

Alan Campbell won bronze in the single sculls at London 2012

After a winter of trials and intense training and the first world cup event in Sydney in March, where Richard won the lightweight double with Adam Freeman-Pask, while Peter was a member of the four that took silver, more testing saw Peter come out on top with Richard second and so the new partnership was formed.

Richard added: "Peter is sculling very well and I'm sitting behind him in the bow seat and he's making it really easy for me.

"We've had a solid block of training and been pushing things on and the aim now is to carry that into Eton and then onwards for the rest of the summer. We want to win at Eton and we're doing everything we can to make that happen."

After a long post-Olympics sabbatical Alan Campbell is back in the single sculls having committed to the next four-year cycle.

He'll come up against London silver medalist Ondrej Synek and Germany's Marcel Hacker, who beat Campbell at a recent regatta in Germany.

Despite winning an Olympic bronze, Campbell knows that the pressure is on as he starts his Rio campaign

"I'd sacrifice the next three world championships to get the result I want in Rio but I obviously have to, at some point, perform along that road but I feel like I'm on a better trajectory heading into this years world championships having taken some time off and getting gradually back into it.

"Now I base everything on long term objectives and long term plans," said Campbell.

He added, "I need to use the racing to help me move forward and to make sure I'm doing the right stuff and address any issues that may occur or any weaknesses I might have or alternatively establish what my strengths are.

"I'm ranked third in the world from the Olympics and I want to continue on at that level and looking forward to getting back into it."