FORMER Upton Rowing Club member Zac Purchase secured a gold medal at the World Cup in Belgrade.

The Great Britain squad claimed 12 medals, including four golds, in Olympic classes at the event, taking a confident step towards London 2012.

Purchase and Mark Hunter, the Olympic and world champions, held off a spirited Greek challenge to win the lightweight double scull.

“We are really happy to have had a good race and there’s a lot more to come,” said Purchase.

Purchase and Hunter started conservatively but worked themselves into a lead by halfway of just over a second from Panagiotis Magdanis and Eleftherios Konsolas.

The GB duo were clearly not going to relent, holding on to win by less than half-a-second.