The programme provided for six events, mainly of College crews and their supporters. From this modest beginning, the Annual Riverview Regatta has grown into thirty four events today with one thousand competitors and ten thousand spectators through the day. The Gold Cup Trophy took about three months to complete and was put on show in April 1893. At the time it was said to be the only gold cup for rowing in the world. According to "The Town & Country Journal" (1 May 1893), apart from its intrinsic value (29 oz. of gold), it was one of the finest specimen of anything of its kind yet manufactured in Australia. The Cup features the characteristic flora and fauna of Australia. The handles of the trophy come out of the upper portion of the body of the kangaroo, while the garlands and wreaths that ornament it are the leaves and flowers of the waratah. The front of the trophy is engraved with eight-oared boats, in full swing. The figure of an oarsman holding the College flag surmounts the lid. At 1400m the five lane course is much shorter than the 2000m raced by senior club crews and school eights. Otherwise the shortest schoolboy courses raced in the Sydney season are of 1500m length. Unusually, the regatta course includes a dog-leg to stroke side around a pylon at the 1100m mark. There is a second pylon at the finish line. Consequently the majority of the events of the day - excepting the four club sculling classes - are contested in coxed boats. Pylon incidents and oar clashes are common; steering a tight corner is a race strategy and many school coxswains come away from the Gold Cup course wiser for the experience. A video of the St Ignatius 1st VIII crashing into a wooden pole in the last stretch of the race circulated on the internet. It shows the umpire yelling for St Ignatius to "check your course" and "stop rowing", concluding with the boat hitting the pylon and six seat being thrown out.