The final of this event saw Sydney Uni take on seven eights from the GPS schools. The only other club entry in this event, Sydney Rowing Club were eliminated in the first heat. St Joseph’s surprised front runners Shore by taking an early lead of half a second with Uni a second back in third as the crews crossed the first 500 . Uni held their initial pace through the second 500 as the school crews slowed to 1.30’s + and came to the 1000m with a 2/3 length lead over Shore who had taken second place from Joeys.
Led by 2003 Senior B reps Mike Valli and Matt Ryan Uni applied more pressure in the third 500 to hit the 1500 metre marker with a clear water advantage of 4 seconds over Shore and 5 seconds over Joeys.
With this advantage SUBC crew was able to relax a little with a taxing program ahead and eased up slightly to take out the Colleagues Cup in 5.52. Joey’s cam home strongly to convincingly push Shore into third finishing just two seconds behind Uni and 2 seconds ahead of Shore.
Following this race six of the SUBC team were announced in the selection squad for the 2004 State Youth Eight.