#OLYMPIC – Former Irish Star keelboat crew Anthony Shanks has joined one of Skandia Team GBR's top hopes for claiming Gold at London 2012 this year serving as a tuning partner crew to 2008 Gold Medallist pairing Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the final run in to the Olympic regatta.

Shanks is currently based in Seville, Spain for grueling ten day training camps with GBR stalking horse skipper John Gimson.

Previously Shanks crewed for Dun Laoghaire's Max Treacy for selection in the Star, a trials series won in 2011 by Peter O'Leary and David Burrows.

It's never easy stepping back in to a boat and finding your competitive edge again. It's even harder if it happens to be an Olympic class. On coming ashore after another windy Star race at the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta yesterday, Dun Laoghaire's Max Treacy concedes he 'never really expected to win the Irish Star keelboat trials this time around'. So far the Royal St. George pair have struggled to break in to the top half of the fleet.

Treacy and Peter O'Leary squared up for the right to represent Ireland next July at the Olympic Regatta in Weymouth but after winning the first trial in Holland ten days ago O'Leary has extended his lead this week.

Treacy, who has clocked up 12 years experience in the class and some impressive international results, says exam pressure kept him off the water this year. Together with his crew Anthony Shanks, the pair are now looking forward to the Star European championships on Dublin Bay in September, the 100th anniversary year for the class and the first time the Olympic keelboat has ever raced in Ireland.