As this year’s Harness Charity Challenge (HCC) winner says, in his own words, “the Epworth Hospital Foundation is something close to my heart, literally!”
Nick Hooper is this year’s HCC champion, finishing with a profit of $6,700 in the tip-off, to head the ladder after 31 days of competitive harness tipping between 46 players on Twitter throughout November.
Each day tipsters, who paid $250 to be involved (with all monies pooled and divided up among the winners’ chosen charities), would select one horse and a $100 win or each-way ‘pretend’ wager was placed on each horse to tally the results. Once a week players were allotted a Golden Punt for an outlay of $200, so tactics were important.
Hooper’s key winning move came on what participants knew as #Day30 (hashtags are important when playing in the Twitter space, especially for the competition organiser whose handy-work has been unanimously praised and rightly so!).
Placing his last Golden Punt on long-shot Spunkyola at Bendigo, Hooper was all smiles when the pacer duly saluted for gun young reinswoman Abbey Turnbull, paying $22.90 on the tote and putting Hoops in the box seat.
All up $13,650 was raised by tipsters partaking in the HCC, with extra funds tipped in by generous sponsors Ballarat and District Trotting Club, SBG Accountants and TAB.
For winning the comp, $7000 was donated to Hooper’s charity, the Epworth Medical Foundation’s Ho Chi Minh to Angkor Wat Cycling Challenge.
“I have been a patient of the cardiac unit at the Epworth for over 20 years. My father and his brother were diagnosed with cardio myopathy back in the mid-1980s and I was diagnosed in the mid-1990s,” Hooper said.
“Our current doctor, Dr Robert Gelder, is embarking on a fundraising bike rider around Vietnam and Cambodia in February 2019 with the aim of raising $50,000 for the purchase of equipment by the cardiac unit at the Epworth.
“I know that Dr Gelder was thrilled when I told him of the donation of $7000 towards his cause and the Epworth Hospital Foundation.
“Heart disease is such a big issue in our society and it is likely to touch someone close to everyone at some stage in their life.”
There has been high praise for HCC organiser Steve “Pogga” Salter. He provided not only daily updates about the competition, but tallied results, retweeted winners and tips live and rounded up the sponsorship and players. He was often still updating fans well into the night.
“It’s a huge job and he deserves a massive well done, Pogga,” Hooper said.
“I think the participants of the HCC can be proud of their contribution and their involvement in what is a great tipping competition.
“Pogga needs to be congratulated for running it for the fourth year in a row. It creates great camaraderie amongst the tipsters and I would encourage others to get involved next October. It highlights the strong community values harness participants and fans have and the efforts an individual can make to achieve great things.”
Mitch Sidebottom finished runner-up and secured $3750 for his nominated charity Beyond Blue, Danny Kennedy was third with $1700 going to MS Australia, Darren Clayton finished fourth and secured $700 for Dementia Australia, while Pogga ran fifth – outside of the payout zone but Hooper flicked $500 of his charity money to the competition organiser’s charity for a job well done, meaning Guide Dogs Victoria snared a $500 donation.
To find out more about the Epworth Medical Foundation’s Ho Chi Minh to Angkor Wat Cycle Challenge, click here.
Ballarat & District Trotting Club, SBG Accountants, TAB Harness Charity Challenge Results
1st: Nick Hooper: $7000 donated to the Epworth Medical Foundation’s Ho Chi Minh to Angkor Wat Cycle Challenge ($7,000)
2nd: Mitch Sidebottom: $3750 to Beyond Blue
3rd: Danny Kennedy: $1700 to MS Australia
4th: Darren Clayton: $700 for Dementia Australia
5th: Steve Salter: $500 for Guide Dogs Victoria
