Teams had two hours to design and construct bridges made entirely of spaghetti. Each structure needed to span half a metre, stand under 200 millimetres tall, and hold a one‑kilogram weight for at least a minute without snapping. Among the bridges that passed the test, the lightest design would take the title.

Professor Chris Pieper, one of the organisers, said the event has become a fixture at the college.

“It’s been going for almost 50 years,” he said. “We have five teams in the heavyweight competition. For the senior group, we’ve got 19 teams, and for the juniors, we’ve got 21 groups this year.”

Volunteers from the Civil Engineering Technologist Program helped run the event and support the students. For many, it was a chance to see future engineers in the making.

“It’s really good to see. It’s a good way to promote the program as well, because we do a lot of structural analysis,” said volunteer Horatio Andow. “Seeing them do this is really good.”