TOM Ford helped Great Britain to their second rowing medal of this year's Olympics in the early hours of this morning.

The former student of The Grange School in Hartford was part of the men's eight crew that claimed a bronze medal in what was the final event of the regatta in Tokyo.

Northwich Guardian:

The pain and joy written all over Tom Ford's face at the end. Picture: PA Wire

They were not considered to be serious medal contenders but produced an outstanding performance in the A final at the Sea Forest Waterway.

Northwich Guardian:

Tom Ford covers his eyes at the end of the race. Picture: PA Wire

Holmes Chapel's Ford was in the stroke seat and alongside teammates Moe Sbihi, Josh Bugajski, Jacob Dawson, Tom George, Charles Elwes, Oliver Wynne-Griffith, James Rudkin and cox Harry Fieldman, they were in a strong position at the halfway stage.

However, New Zealand took control with 500m to go and eventually went on to secure gold, with Germany finishing strongly to pip Team GB to silver.

Still, a medal is a superb and memorable way for Ford, 28, to cap his first ever Olympics.

Northwich Guardian:

Tom Ford, second from right, at the medal ceremony. Picture: PA Wire

Wynne-Griffith said: "Overall, we are very proud of the performance. We had a pretty up and down week, and we had some pretty honest conversations.

"There have been a lot of fourth places on the team, a lot of near-misses, so it was good to be on the right side of one."

And Sbihi added: "We feel like this week we haven't been able to show ourselves properly, but today we got ourselves into the right position to challenge for a medal."