Athletics Australia – News – Scott Dawson triumphs convincingly in tipping competition

In the first athletics competition of its kind in Australia, Monash University student Scott Dawson (Vic) has topped the Australian Athletics Championships tipping leaderboard, finishing a convincing five points clear of his nearest rival.

The former state representative athlete scored 100 out of a possible 188 points to finish ahead of Bradley Croker (ACT), an AIS athlete supervisor and Edward Ovadia (NSW), a journalist for Runners Tribe, who came in second and third respectively. The minor placegetters both scored 95 points but were separated on a gold medal countback (46-41).  

Interestingly, none of the winners attended the weekend's championships in Perth. In fact, all three were in the comfort of their own homes on the east coast watching the live results come through on athletics.com.au, analysing the heats and ensuring their tips had made it through to the finals.

Dawson said his tactic was to “play it straight… no upsets” as well as taking in a bit of research into the AWD events.

Participants were required to tip gold, silver and bronze medallists for each event and points were assigned for correctly tipping an athlete in their final placing. With 64 events across the men’s, women’s, men’s AWD and women’s AWD categories, a total of 188 points was on offer across the three days of track and field action.

The winner of the competition, which was free to enter, will receive a $1000 2XU voucher, and second and third finishers will be sporting a new pair of runners and other great gear supplied by Asics.

The Australian Athletics Championships tipping contest was a move into unfamiliar territory for athletics fans but saw over 600 entrants embrace the opportunity to put their knowledge of the sport on the line. With such a fantastic response, Athletics Australia will be looking to run similar competitions for other major upcoming meets including the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, from October 3-14.

The tipping website has now been updated with final results, so all participants can log on to see how they fared at https://tipping.athletics.com.au (tied placings are listed alphabetically by username).

Thanks to all who provided feedback regarding the system and results, all of which have been noted and will improve the competition in the future. Some late athlete entries – including a number of Japanese athletes and Irish 400m runner Joanne Cuddihy – meant it was not possible to tip on these competitors. In these events, the tipping results were based on the top three athletes from the start lists provided in the competition database.

Stayed tuned to athletics.com.au for details of the next tipping competition, as well as all the latest news, results and images of Australian athletics.

Athletics Australia – News