Mo Farah began Olympic year with victory in the 1500m at the indoor Aviva International Match in Glasgow.
Britain's 5,000m world champion battled through in three minutes 39.03 seconds ahead of Kenya's Agustine Choge.
There were wins for fellow Britons Jeanette Kwakye and Mark Lewis-Francis in the 60m, but Hannah England was edged into second place in the 1,500m.
Great Britain won the team event ahead of Russia, Germany, a Commonwealth Select squad and the United States.
Farah was made to fight hard by Choge, overtaking the Kenyan with 300m to go and holding on in a sprint for the line.
"This crowd was amazing and I'm really happy to win, they got behind me and I couldn't believe how much noise there was," he told BBC Sport.
"I had to stay on the inside line. I'd been told by my coach to try and run the shortest distance and keep in front of him."
Kwakye ran a blistering 60m in 7.26 seconds, finishing two tenths clear of second-placed Yasmin Kwadwo of Germany.
"It's nice to perform like that because I'm still in heavy training, it feels good," said Kwakye.
"Compared to last year I felt a lot more confident in myself, the work I'm doing and my fitness. Technically we've been working on so many things, so my coach and I will pick that apart."
Lewis-Francis then beat Kim Collins by one tenth with 6.65, saying: "I kind of got my adrenaline from Jeanette. I've been up and down in training and I'm happy with that. If I can stay injury free then the world's my oyster."
England earlier looked impressive as she clocked 4:25.11 in the 1,500m, despite seeing Germany's Denise Krebs grab victory with a lean over the line to finish in 4:25.09.
"It was a lot of fun," said England, who has been training in Kenya with a group of athletes that includes Farah.
"I didn't want to go that early but I was back in fifth and I thought I'd just go. I've not done an awful lot of speed work and I'm excited about running the trials and then Birmingham and being a lot sharper."
After a slow start from the British athletes there was unexpected success in the 200m, as Danny Talbot beat the experienced and multi-medal winning Collins, before Margaret Adeoye set a personal best of 23.68 in the women's race.
"I was hoping to win," said Adeoye. "I thought 'I feel good' and I was just going to go for it, and that's what I did."
Talbot enjoyed his first international victory as he won in 21.17 ahead of Collins, saying: "It's such an honour to be on the track with him; he's a legend in athletics."
Joe Thomas played his part in a surge of strong British results by winning the 800m in a personal best of 1:47.35, and Helen Clitheroewas well satisfied with a time of 8:45.59 in the 3,000m - although she finished some distance behind training partner Helen Obiri of Kenya, who ran 8:42.60.
"I'm very happy with that," said Clitheroe. "Obviously I wanted to win but I've run faster than I did last year. To open with my second fastest time ever is really good."
And asked about the chances of her competing at next month's World Indoor Championships, she added: "My coach and I are going to have a discussion about that after Birmingham, but if I'm in shape and think I'm going to be in contention for one of the top positions, I definitely want to go there."
There was a worrying failure for European and Commonwealth 110m hurdles champion Andy Turner in the 60m hurdles.
He struggled with a long-standing Achilles injury as he finished fifth, and last, in 7.74 behind Russia's Konstantin Shabanov (7.54).
"Every step hurts again, the same thing as last year," said Turner. "Every time I land off the hurdle I can feel it and you can't hold your position. Every step is painful. I don't know what to do.
"I'm going to have to see the doctors. They were really good last year, they sorted it out."
