Over the four weeks Richard added just over $13,000 to his portfolio when based on the overall market he only had to make $858.

All thanks to Caeneus Minerals, a stock that’s lucky to see one cent on a good day. But in four weeks it doubled in price from a fraction of a cent to, er, a bigger fraction of a cent.

The reason has suddenly become clear: as the race was finishing it successfully  requested a trading halt "pending the release of an announcement relating to a material transaction regarding proposed asset acquisitions".

By the way in case you’re wondering, the lowest price a stock can go is one-hundredth of a cent.

But in a last-minute dash the dartboard posted the week’s biggest gain of $7000 only to run out of time. It had the second best stock in Copper Strike, plus the fourth in Wotif which leapt after a takeover offer from Expedia of $3.06 cash plus a 24 cent fully franked special dividend.

The race’s third best stock was gold producer Northern Star which last week  issued a better than forecast June quarter production report. It was chosen by fund manager John Aldersley who, with pleasing symmetry, came third.

Yours truly slunk into fourth place with little to show for it.

That the market barely budged over the four week round made sense since nothing really happened.

The US Federal Reserve reaffirmed a rate rise, from almost zero per cent, won’t happen for yonks.

Likewise Australia’s drop in full-time employment and lift in the unemployment rate to 6 per cent speaks volumes for the Reserve Bank.

And so our new race for glory begins...