Australian Memory Championships versus the AFL Grand Final
Two Great Competitions on One Weekend

Wow, what an event it was! Throngs of people turned out to watch real champions do what they do best. The competition was tight right from the start, with the lead changing quickly and rapidly in the opening rounds. It is fair to say that everyone was on the edge of their seats with excitement, as the athletes showed their mettle.

Okay, so we’re talking about the Australian Football League Grand Final, not the 8th Annual Australian Open Memory Championships, but that doesn’t mean the competition wasn’t great. With competitors from Melbourne and Hong Kong coming into the Gold Coast to participate, the competition was small, and the participants first class.

It was difficult to predict who would win - the first four events each had a different event winner. Ultimately, Tansel Ali claimed the title of Australian Memory Champion, with a score of 2801 Championship Points, and Lee Tai Yiu (Hong Kong) was the overall winner with 2864 Championship Points.

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The top points were:-
Lee Tai Yiu (Hong Kong) 2864 - Well done!!
Tansel Ali (Melbourne) 2801 - three personal bests
Chris Lyons (Sydney) 1974 - four personal bests. The names and faces guru!
Karen Cheung Chor Kwan (Hong Kong) 1750 - nearly doubled her previous attempt.
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The Australian competition is always a fun, friendly event and 2008 was no exception. Congratulations to all who competed and supported the event.
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Running the competition for the 8th time now was Jennifer Goddard (Convenor), Director of the Buzan Centre: Aust/NZ and Bill Jarrard (Chief Arbiter) of Mindwerx International, ably supported by Debbie Jarrard.
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Thanks to our Sponsors

The competition was held for the first time in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast.

Our host for the weekend was QIBA – Queensland International Business Academy, and we’d like to thank Lynn, Kevin and everyone at QIBA for their support.
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If you are looking for a great school to prepare international students to study for an Australian Masters degree, have a chat to the QIBA crew– www.qiba.qld.edu.au
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We’d also like to thank Jo-Anne Albert of Lifeplan Funds Management, for sponsoring the two cards events www.lifeplan.com.au

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To launch the event, we released a series of 10 videos to provide insight into how a National Memory Championships is run. http://www.fuzz2buzz.com/en/node/1054

These 3-4 minute on-line presentations show examples of the 10 Disciplines and are suitable for people interested in competing in a memory event, volunteers who help adjudicate and journalists and others.