Eric Murray and Hamish Bond again proved to be the nemesis of Pete Reed and Andy Hodge at the World Cup in Munich, Germany last weekend.

However, Hodge, from Hebden, and Reed are getting closer and closer in their attempts to beat their New Zealand rivals in the men’s pairs.

The Britons chased the Kiwis hard in the closing stages of the final, finishing under a second behind them to claim silver.

Hodge thought the pair had taken a step for-ward, saying: “I feel we’ve got back to where we should be. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year, and particularly to November and the World Championships.”

Bond added: “It was a really tough and tight race. We didn’t race really well. We can’t take anything for granted.”

Reed and Hodge started the weekend well by winning their heat, the Kiwis having dominated heat one.

The British duo tried a different strategy in their heat, and didn’t shoot off from the start. Poland were the front-runners this time before Hodge and Reed pulled through to take over and, rather than sprinting at the finish as well, they ended at 25 strokes per minute.

The Britons cranked things up in their semi-final, winning the race in an almost identical time to the New Zealanders, having had a faster start.

That took Reed and Hodge into the lead, and by halfway they had a seven-second advantage. They kept that margin until the closing sprint when South Africans Shaun Keeling and Ramon Di Clemente narrowed the gap.

There were three teams in the mix for the final – world champions New Zealand, Reed and Hodge and Serbians Nikola Stojic and Marko Marjanovic.

Bond and Murray had a one-second lead over the Britons at halfway, with Serbia slipping back in the second half of the race.

Reed and Hodge brought their rating up from 43 to 46 but Bond and Murray, who were on 39, stayed just in front to retain their yellow jersey.