Ironman World Championship 'Fantasy' Challenge.

Greetings fellow Texas Triathletes.

I have put together a little game for Sunday's race in Kona, trying to merge the world of fantasy sports with triathlon. The scoring formula is probably less than perfect, for this first attempt, but I figured it would be fun addition to Sunday's race. So feel free to alter and forward to your own training groups/friends for your own games. (Just let me know what you changed, for my own reference.)

If you want to get in with the small group of pirates I am being 'commissioner' for, feel free to PM me your picks, along with a team name and what city you are from. We aren't playing for money for this first go round, just bragging rights. Though, whomever comes in last place has to wear a Speedo at their next race. I can post results here, if there are any takers.

Happy Kona watching!!







Ironman World Championship Fantasy Challenge



Ok, everybody, I know this is late notice, so the game will be simple for this first year of the pool. But we are going to give it a try to make a fantasy ‘league’ out of the Ironman in Kona. It will be free this year, but maybe next year we can play for cash, so that the winner can buy more gels.



How will it work?



The Challenge will be to pick your ‘team’ of Ironman competitors, including the order you expect them to finish in Kona. Your ‘teams’ will cover both genders, the top 10 men and top 6 women, in order of your predicted placement. The complied team with the fewest position ‘points’ will be the winner. (Similar to the team scoring in high school cross country, for those of you that have exposure to it.)



What is a ‘position point’?



Points awarded for this challenge will take into account your ordered picks, and weigh those agaisnt competitors final placement Sunday. The best way to 'score' will be to correctly pick the top finishers in order, obviously. Picks that finish in a lower spot will be ‘penalized’, and picks that finish in a higher spot will receive extra credit, but to a lower degree than the lower finish penalties. Here is how it will break down, keeping in mind that the lower the overall score the better….



- Correct Picks – Scoring emphasis will be place on correctly guessing placement spots. So correct guesses will not be assigned any points, making the perfect score…. Zero.

o Example – If you pick Craig Alexander to finish 3rd, and he in fact finishes 3rd, then you are assigned zero points for your male 3rd place pick.


- Higher Spot Finishes – In the event that one of your picks is an overachiever and finishes higher than your guess, then your point assignment for this competitor will be an average of the two numbers (your pick and final placement).

o Example – If, for some reason, you pick Christie Wellington to finish 5th and she wins it, the you will be assigned 3 points for your female 5th place pick. Since 3 is average of the numbers 5 (your pick for Christie) and 1 (her final finish spot).


- Lower Spot Finishes – If your pick has a bad day and finishes lower than your guess, then your score for that competitor will be ‘penalized’ by adding your pick spot number to the final placement value.

o Example – If you pick Chris Lieto for 4th place, and he finishes in 8th place, then you will be assigned 12 points for your male 4th place pick. 12 being the sum of 8 (Chris’ finish) and 4 (what you thought he would finish).



*Note – DNF’s will be assigned a finish value that is one number higher than number of Pro finishers for that gender. DNS’s will be assigned a position point value of whatever you pick them to finish. (So if your 6th place male pick does not start, then you will be assigned 6 points for that pick.)



Good luck, everyone. Now do your homework and pick your teams….. which is your guesses for the Top 10 Men Pro finishers, and Top 6 Women Pro finishers, in order. Email those picks to me (along with a Team Name) and I will take care of the points. Feel free to forward this onto any other triathlete you think might be interested. Let me know if you have any questions.


Here is a competitor list, to get you on your way.


http://ironman.com/assets/files/races/worldchampionship/2008bib.htm