NORTHWICH rower Matthew Langridge has scooped a silver medal at the Olympic Games.

The former Hartford High School pupil was part of the men's eight crew pipped by Canada in the final race of the Beijing Regatta.

The victors crossed the line half a length ahead of the Great Britain boat.

USA were third.

Favourites Canada opened up a lead of around a boat's length by the halfway mark, a lead that proved too much for Langridge and his crew.

They edged back into contention by the final 500m but the leaders dug deep to pinch the gold medal in a time of 5:23.89 - an improvement of four seconds on their time in last Sunday's heat.

GB clocked 5:25.11.

"There was a stage where we started losing it," said cox Acer Nethercott afterwards.

"But you need momentum and Canada had it."

Langridge's crewmate Alastair Heathcote added: "It came down to great force and a gutsy performance.

"Unfortunately it wasn't quite there to beat them.

"I'm disappointed. I thought we had the Canadians, but it turns out that we didn't have enough left in the tank."

Langridge, a former world junior sculling champion, is the first mid Cheshire athlete to win an Olympic medal for more than two decades.

Hurdler Shirley Strong won silver at Los Angeles in 1984.

Olympic Regatta
Men's Eight final: 1. Canada 5:23.89; 2. Great Britain 5:25.11; 3. United States 5:25.34; 4. Netherlands 5:29.26; 5. Poland 5:31.42; 6. Australia 5:35.10.