Thousands Of UW Students Participate In Snowball Fight
Snowball Fight Held On Bascom Hill
Updated: 9:38 pm CST December 9, 2009
MADISON, Wis. -- Thousands of University of Wisconsin-Madison students hurled snowballs at one another in a massive snowball fight on campus Wednesday.
VIDEO: Watch Video Of Massive UW Snowball FightStudents divided into two teams based on what dorms they live in. A couple hundred were at Bascom Hill for the beginning of the melee, but the crowd topped out at a couple thousand or more as the fight ebbed and flowed over the afternoon Wednesday.Freshman Matt Moertel, 19, said his strategy was simply to hurl himself into the opposition.Student Vanessa Majeski and her friend have fought in the snowball fight before and came prepared with a strategy. "We throw and then we hide behind other people and pick some more up so we don't get hit," Majeski said.Some students came holding trays as shields. Others were bundled up to protect themselves from the below freezing temperatures and winds that gusted to more than 20 miles per hour.Not all were worried about it. Several went shirtless while at least one had on pajamas.A Facebook event page created by student snowball fight organizers had attracted more than 5,200 guests by midmorning Wednesday.If they all showed up, it would be the largest snowball fight on record. According to the Guinness Book of World Records the largest to date was 3,700 who hurled snowballs at Michigan Technological University in 2006.An attempt to break that record in January in Madison fell far short.UW-Madison did not break the record on Wednesday.
VIDEO: Watch Video Of Massive UW Snowball FightStudents divided into two teams based on what dorms they live in. A couple hundred were at Bascom Hill for the beginning of the melee, but the crowd topped out at a couple thousand or more as the fight ebbed and flowed over the afternoon Wednesday.Freshman Matt Moertel, 19, said his strategy was simply to hurl himself into the opposition.Student Vanessa Majeski and her friend have fought in the snowball fight before and came prepared with a strategy. "We throw and then we hide behind other people and pick some more up so we don't get hit," Majeski said.Some students came holding trays as shields. Others were bundled up to protect themselves from the below freezing temperatures and winds that gusted to more than 20 miles per hour.Not all were worried about it. Several went shirtless while at least one had on pajamas.A Facebook event page created by student snowball fight organizers had attracted more than 5,200 guests by midmorning Wednesday.If they all showed up, it would be the largest snowball fight on record. According to the Guinness Book of World Records the largest to date was 3,700 who hurled snowballs at Michigan Technological University in 2006.An attempt to break that record in January in Madison fell far short.UW-Madison did not break the record on Wednesday. Copyright 2009 by Channel 3000. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
