British Mathematical Olympiad

The Mathematics Ashes

The Mathematics Ashes is a competition between the UK and Australia decided by the results of a practice exam at each year’s joint pre-IMO training camp, or by the team scores at the IMO in years when the two teams are unable to train together. The competition started in 2008 following discussions at IMO 2007 in Vietnam and the donation of an urn and cup by Peter Taylor of the Australian Mathematics Trust.

The practice exam is an IMO-style paper, with three questions, each marked out of 7 points.

Year Venue Date Exam Scores Detailed reports
UNK AUS
2008 Lisbon 13 July PDF 55 72 UK, Australia
2009 Cambridge 9 July PDF 67 61 UK, Australia
2010 Astana 4 July PDF 72 68 UK, Australia
2011 Cambridge 12 July PDF 66 66 UK, Australia
2012 Quilmes 7 July PDF 72 52 UK, Australia
2013 Santa Marta 20 July PDF 82 81 UK, Australia
2014 Cape Town 5 July PDF 59 50 UK
2015 Putrajaya 7 July PDF 84 84 UK
2016 Tagaytay 8 July PDF 82 74 UK
2017 Itaipava 15 July PDF 83 63 UK
2018 Budapest 6 July PDF 98 99 UK
2019 Bath 13 July PDF 77 104 UK
2020 remote 18 September PDF 87 93 UK
2021 remote 18 July PDF 74 73 UK
2022 separate camps 8 July PDF 81 72 UK
2023 Fuchu 5 July PDF 89 89 UK