Peter Reed and Andy Hodge remain in GB pair for 2011

Olympic champions Peter Reed and Andy Hodge will start the season together in the Great Britain pair as they bid to overturn New Zealand’s dominance.

Since winning in the four in Beijing in 2008, the Britons have lost 12 times to Kiwis Hamish Bond and Eric Murray.

That prompted speculation Reed and Hodge would move into a larger boat, offering a better chance of 2012 gold.

The duo compete in the pair in the first of three World Cup events, in Munich from 27-29 May, 2011.

No decision has yet been made on the line-up for the rest of the season but head coach Jurgen Grobler rarely changes his top crews mid-season.

Reed and Hodge were closer than ever before to their Kiwi arch-rivals – 0.32 seconds away – in taking world silver in Karapiro, New Zealand in November 2010.

“We had to spend some time evaluating everything across the GB squad,” Grobler said.

“After the great experience we had last year, the guys have made a lot of improvements in many ways over the winter and we will now continue and see whether we have made progress.

“Now that we have the pair decided we need to look at building the other elements. It’s a very exciting time for the squad.