OLYMPIC champion Pete Reed had mixed fortunes at the opening World Cup regatta of the year in Slovenia.

The Nailsworth naval officer and Great Britain pairs partner Andy Triggs Hodge were beaten for the sixth time in succession by nemeses New Zealand.

In difficult conditions in the Slovenian city of Bled, Reed and Triggs Hodge started slowly, but a superb final 500 metres brought them to within a canvass of the Kiwi crew at the finishing line.

Despite the defeat Reed was pleased with an improved display in the tricky conditions.

"Our time will come," said Reed afterwards. "We need to go away and work on our technique in rough water but we made a big step up today."

The day improved for the Beijing gold medalist when he was called up in to the men's eight as a late replacement for injured stroke Tom Wilkinson and helped the crew claim gold.

"I'm exhausted," said Reid after his second race in just over two hours. "But such credit must go to this crew.

"There a lot of young guys who are not experienced and they have an exciting future ahead and were strong and committed today.

"It was great rowing with them."

There was further success for Gloucestershire with former Gloucester Rowing Club stars Beth Rodford and Natasha Page claiming gold in the women's quadruple scull and eight respectively.

Page was part of the victorious women's eight that held off the challenge of China and the Netherlands to win by half a length.

Her former clubmate Beth Rodford also claimed gold, teaming up with British team stalwart Katherine Grainger, Anna Watkins and Annabel Vernon to hold off the challenge of Ukraine to claim victory.

"That was so much fun," said Rodford after claiming gold. "We knew the Ukraine would be tough as they are the world champions, so we had to step up from our heat."

Bushley's Olympic champion Zac Purchase was another to claim gold after dominating the lightweight men's single scull.

Purchase has not raced on the international circuit since claiming Olympic gold in the lightweight double sculls Beijing two years ago after illness.

And despite racing without regular sculls partner Mark Hunter, who is out with injury, the Bushley rower extended his remarkable unbeaten record on the international stage to 16 races.

"It's great to be back. I love racing, it's what you train every day for," said Purchase after recording a stunning victory.

There was also a good win for the men's four containing Cheltenham's Alex Partridge and Alex Gregory.

The reigning world champions went into the regatta wanting to stamp their authority on the event and by the 500 metre mark had raced into a one second lead over Serbia.

The Serbs began to claw their way back into the running and as the race moved past the grandstands, the British quartet dug deep, moved up a gear and held on to win with Serbia second and Canada third.

"We did what we needed to do to win," said Partridge.

"It was difficult to get a good, sweet rhythm as the conditions on the lake are a bit 'washy' but it feels good to win."

Gregory, who was born in Cheltenham and learned to row at Evesham Rowing club, said: "It's a good start to the season. We are not at the standard we were at the end of last year but we can make lots of improvements."