In a playoff between Central Otago's young spelling buffs last night, the winning team decided ''asphyxiation'' was the best strategy to crush the competition.
The playoff round lasted almost 10 minutes and pitted Dunstan and Wakatipu high school teams against each other, but it was Wakatipu's year 9 pupils Madison Jones, Seth Mawhinney, and Hylton Briscoe (all 13) who took out the top spot.
Twenty-four teams of three pupils from four different high schools took part in the Otago Daily Times Extra! Central Otago spelling quiz competition at Cromwell Auditorium last night, including Mt Aspiring and Cromwell College.
A team from Dunstan High made up of year 10 pupils Mitchell Deaker, Max Kohler, and Hannah Heyward came second.
Madison said it was ''pretty nice'' to be in the team of former spelling champions, with Seth winning two competition and Hylton winning one before.
They ''strangled'' the other team with the word ''asphyxiation'', Madison said.
The team described the 13-word playoff as ''painful'' and the ''longest it's ever been'' but their plan was very simple. Madison said if there were ''two of us arguing with one person'' then those two were probably right.
Seth said it was all about ''gut feeling'' and ''not stuffing up'', while Hylton said if someone was ''super confident'', then just ''believe them''.
But the best spellers in Central Otago were so confident, they did not need to do any preparation for the competition.
''We literally just turned up on the day,'' Madison said.
''Just reading helps, I reckon, and extends your vocabulary,'' Seth said.
The team won a $20 gift card, medals, pens, a certificate, and ''a big plaque''.
Quiz co-ordinator and Extra! editor Ivan Behrnes said it was an ''excellent quiz'' and there was strong representation from all the schools.
''It was a good result and a really exciting finish,'' Mr Behrnes said.
