Molesey Boat Club’s rowers have been forced to pull out of the second round of the Rowing World Cup next week, due to fears about the dangers posed by the E coli outbreak in Germany, writes Martin Cross.

Great Britain announced their withdrawal from the event on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after rowing’s governing body FISA declared that participation in Hamburg would pose no particular risk.

British Rowing said its decision to withdraw from the World Cup event, which is due to run between June 17-19, was “based on a risk-assessment relating to the continuing issue of E coli in the area”.

Earlier in the week, Molesey’s rowers had claimed there were prepared to defy the risks posed by the outbreak in order to keep their 2012 Olympic dream on track.

Now, the team has been left frustrated by the latest developments.

Olympic champion and Molesey captain Andrew Triggs-Hodge, who was expected to lead in Britain’s flagship boat in Hamburg, gave his full support to the decision to stay away, but could not hide huis frustration.

He said: “I am absolutely gutted not to be going but if just one of our athletes caught the E coli bug in Hamburg it could end their season and of course 24 people have been killed so far. So it’s a risk not worth taking.”

Triggs-Hodge admitted that his squad’s withdrawal from Hamburg would cause major disruption to British Rowing’s preparation for this year’s World Championships, at Bled in Slovenia in August and September – an event in which crucial Olympic qualification places will be at stake.

He added: “I have no idea what we are going to do now with our programme because it now means we won’t race for another month.”