But Alan Campbell maintained his unbeaten run in the men's single sculls event on the Olympic course at Eton Dorney as he recorded his seventh successive win.

Returning Olympic gold medallist Tom James and his partner Alex Gregory led for much of the men's pairs final before succumbing to James's Beijing fours crew-mates Andy Triggs-Hodge and Pete Reed.

The latter matched Campbell with a seventh straight victory at the trials, while Hodge has won seven times in the last eight years.

Greg Searle, the 1992 Olympic coxed pairs gold medallist who is seeking to compete in next year's Games at the age of 40, finished third with his Molesey partner Cameron Nichol.

Zac Purchase, Olympic gold medallist in the lightweight pairs, won the lightweight trial after leading from start to finish, but his Beijing partner Mark Hunter had a less happy day, finishing fourth.

Rob Williams was second.

Watkins was equivocal about her result.

"While it's nice to win, I don't really like to race against Katherine, I would far rather be in a boat with her against the rest of the world", she said after finishing in 7:37.01.

World quadruple scull champion Beth Rodford was third.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning dominated the women's pairs final, and Sophie Hosking won the lightweight women's single scull.

"We've had an outstanding set of trials on the Olympic course," said David Tanner, the GB Rowing team performance director.

"Exceptional racing, some stand-out performances and some young guns challenging for places in the team.

"We're in a good place now to form our senior boats for the summer season."

Britain is due to announce its first World Cup team of the season on May 11.

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