(Updated 4 p.m., April 3)
Colonel By sets new World Record for largest rock, paper, scissors tournament
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Grade 10 rock, paper, scissors tournament finalist Kat Wheatcroft prepares to throw down against Grade 10 finalist and eventual tournament champion Cody Lombardo in the finals of the Guinness World Record breaking event. Fred Sherwin/Photo

In 2005, Colonel By Secondary School was recognized by Maclean's magazine as the third best academic high school in all of Canada, but now they have another distinction that's arguably even more impressive.

Friday morning, 1,161 students crammed into the school's hallways and common areas to set a new Guinness World Record for staging the largest rock, paper, scissors tournament ever held, pending certification by Guinness.

The current world record is held by Brigham Young University which set the mark on April 11, 2008 with 826 participants.

Besides getting the school's name in the Guinness Book of World Records and promoting school spirit, the event also managed to raise over $2,000 for the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario through student donations.

The eventually winner of the tournament was Grade 10 student Cody Lombardo, who defeated Grade 11 representative Kat Wheatcroft in front of the entire student body which was packed into the school gym for the semi-finals and final.

Lombardo won the first throw down with paper over rock. In the second throw down, Wheatcroft stuck to rock which trumped Lombardo's scissors to force a third and deciding round.

With the tension in the gym at a fevered pitch, Lombardo and Wheatcroft shook their fists up and down three times before revealing their hand symbol of choice. Wheatcroft once again kept her fist clenched indicating rock, while Lombardo stretched out his fingers palm down to form paper. The championship and title of rock, paper, scissors champion was his.

The gymnasium went wild. Several classmates of Lombardo's stormed the podium to lift him on their shoulders -- their man had won the championship.

Asked afterwards to reveal his strategy in the final, Lombardo answered matter of factly that he in fact had no strategy.

"I just did whatever popped into my head. It was pretty much luck," said Lombardo as a steady stream of well-wishers patted him on the back.

Despite having emerged from the largest field ever assembled for a rock, paper, scissors tournament as the grand champion, Lombardo didn't have much time to savour his big win. After consuming a victory lunch, he had to return to class along with everybody else.

The idea of the record breaking attempt was the brainchild of teacher Cam Baird, who's been trying to organize an Guinness World Record attempt for the past several years.

His first idea was to stage the world's largest daisy chain on the Rideau Canal, but the weather never cooperated. Then last fall he saw a story in Maclean's magazine about the World Rock, Paper, Scissors Championship in Toronto, that's when he came up with the idea for the tournament.

Baird enlisted the help of the student council and most notable the assistance of co-student president Mallorie Brodie and things started to snowball from there.

The tournament was conducted much in the same manner as the NCAA basketball tournament with four brackets made up of the four different grade levels. The winner of each bracket then represented his or her grade in the semi-finals.

The first semi-final pitted Lombardo against Grade 9 representative Sheng-Yi Liu. After splitting the first two throw downs, Lombardo beat Liu in the final round with paper over rock.

The second semi-final saw Wheatcroft faceoff against Grade 12 winner Eric Koch. After Koch won the first throw down with paper over rock, Wheatcroft came back to win round two with scissors over paper. In the thrilling finale Wheatcroft used rock to smash Koch's scissors and advance to the final.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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