Henley Royal Regatta may be missing many of the leading Great Britain rowers this year as they make final preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games, but there was no shortage of world-class talent on display yesterday.

Take Kieran West, a gold medal-winner for Britain in the eight at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, whose brother, Josh, is at present training in the Alps in the hope of emulating him. West, 30, was rowing at No3 and steering a composite crew from Imperial College and Kingston against Trinity College, Hartford, in the Visitors' Challenge Cup and his power showed as the American crew fell well behind early on and lost by 3 lengths.

West's crew will race London and Wallingford today in the semi-final of the Visitors'. London beat the Leander A boat in their quarter-final, while the Leander B boat were disqualified after steering into the water of Martyrs and Christ Church, Oxford. Oxford Brookes completed the semi-final line-up with a win over the Army.

A crew from Wallingford and Reading University could also call upon international expertise for the Princess Grace Challenge Cup, fielding members of the Britain lightweight women's squad against a boat from Mortlake Anglian & Alpha and Tideway Scullers. The Wallingford crew included Andrea Dennis and Laura Greenhalgh, who had represented Britain in this year's World Cup regattas, and won by 3 lengths.

Mathilde Pauls, another Britain international who came fourth in the lightweight single scull in the Munich World Cup in May, also reached the semi-finals after beating Hayley Arthur, of South Africa, in the Princess Royal Challenge Cup.

The Temple Challenge Cup will be won by a North American crew after Durham University, the only British boat in the quarter-finals and this year's BUSA champions, lost a keenly fought race to the University of Western Ontario by three quarters of a length.

The afternoon race in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup between Eton College and St Joseph's Preparatory School, from the United States, was also a close battle. Eton held a small lead from the start, which they increased by Fawley and lost by Remenham, only to regain a slender advantage in the closing stretch.

Eton will race Scotch College, the Australian champions, in today's semi-final, with the winner meeting Shrewsbury or Shawnigan Lake School, from Canada.

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