Students to use their noodle Friday in annual contest
34 other such contests found around the world
Original, oldest and bestknown. It’s quite the litany of distinction, cachet and illustriousness for Okanagan College’s Spaghetti Bridge Building Contest.
The school burst onto the scene with the first-ever competition to test the strength of glued-together dried-pasta structures in 1983.
And it’s been gaining momentum as a quirky and educational concept ever since.
Competitors come from all corners of the globe in hope of being crowned spaghetti bridge-building champion, and spectators are wowed when humble noodle trusses can hold almost 454 kilograms before shattering.
At last count, Okanagan College’s meet had inspired 34 other spaghetti bridge-building tournaments around the world, from Buenos Aires to Budapest.
Such a storied history has led the college to describe itself as the “cradle of spaghetti bridge.”
Taking all this into consideration, there’s a buzz of anticipation approaching the 36th annual contest on Friday.
Faction Projects, a Kelownabased real estate developer, is tapping into that excitement by becoming the new title sponsor.
“This event looks like it’s about fun with pasta, but it’s so much more than that,” said Faction director of design and operations Tim McLennan.
“It is a great way to introduce hundreds of students annually to the interplay between materials, physics and engineering. We need to invest in and support ways to interest the next generation of builders and doers in arts, science, technology, engineering and math. And, if the mediums in use are pasta, glue and imagination, that works.”
It was a healthy dose of all three of those components that led a couple of guys from Hungary to the Okanagan College Spaghetti Bridge Building Contest record in 2009.
Norbert Pozsonyi and Aliz Totivan, from Szechenyi Istvan University of Gyro, constructed a pasta masterpiece a decade ago that weighed 982 grams yet held 443.58 kilograms before shattering.
“As an architect, I’ve been amazed over the years at how well some of the bridges have performed,” said McLennan.
“But, even more important to me is seeing the number of elementary, middle and high school students who participate. My son should take notes.”
On Friday, the team-building competition starts at 9:30 a.m., the elementary school demonstration at 10 a.m. and the lightweight contest at 10:30 a.m.
The marquee event begins at noon with 11 teams and individuals arriving with their pasta-andglue creations to be tested in the heavyweight category.
The spaghetti bridges themselves have to be light and stand up to as much weighted pressure as possible before shattering.
The heavyweight division is open to students in middle and high school as well as post-secondary students from around the world, although most of the competitors will be from the Okanagan.
The winner walks away with bragging rights and $1,500 cash.
Other sponsors of the contest include the Applied Science, Technologists and Technicians of B.C., PCL Constructors, Okanagan College Students’ Union, Multi-Power Products, CTQ Consultants, Interior Testing Services and Okanagan Precision Machine.