Torquay's Barney Stentiford insists the future is bright after walking away from this weekend’s British Rowing Championships clutching a silver medal.

Leander Club’s Stentiford joined the great and the good of British rowing at Nottingham’s Holme Pierrepont National Water Sports Centre for two days of action.

Saturday saw the former Torquay Boys’ Grammar School pupil start in the coxless fours, squeezing into the final only to finish in last place.

But Stentiford’s fortunes improved 24 hours later as he helped a Leander eight crew claim a silver medal, finishing just over three seconds behind the winning crew from Oxford Brookes.

The British Rowing Championships marks the start of the season and Stentiford admits he is looking forward to what the rest of the campaign brings now.

“It’s a good way to start the season, it is a bit of a shock to the system because we don’t do 2km racing until the summer normally,” the 24-year-old said.

“This time of the year is doing long mileage, doing low intensity so it’s a bit of a shock, but it’s actually quite fun because it sort of doesn’t really matter that much but a silver medal is a great result."

“It’s the first GB trials in two weeks time, that’s in Boston in Lincolnshire. That involves a 2km ergo test followed by a 5km water trial."

“It’s quite important to get a medal here though because it is an Olympic year, and you never know, you might get an invite to the Olympic trials."

“Rio is very unlikely for me as it’s very difficult to break into the team in an Olympic year, but I need to be in a position that after Rio, I can progress after people retire and things like that. Tokyo 2020 is the aim but this is a good start.”

The British Rowing Championships gives athletes the chance to compete in their club colours – something Stentiford relished.

“It means a lot to me to race in Leander colours,” he added.

“Leander is such a supportive club, there’s a lot of money involved from generous sponsors and donors, and the reason we need that is because we have the best coaches, the best equipment, and that doesn’t come cheap, so it’s really useful for us to have that kind of support network.

“It’s nice to know you are training in the same place as Redgrave and Pinsent, you’re using the same bars in the gym as them, using the same ergo machines as them."

“You sort of forget about it for a little bit but then you do see them, they come to the club every now and again and you see them. They’ve got a good presence about them and they’re really chatty sometimes, even if they don’t know who you are.”

As Leander Club launched their ‘Row to Rio’ campaign Barney Stentiford spoke of Leander’s place as the most successful rowing club in the world, with 111 Olympic medals won by its members.