Story and photos submitted by Ben Judd

EWU and Spokane Falls Community College students recently got together for Bridge Bash 2013 to test their bridge building prowess. There were approximately 20 “bridges” that were broken during the competition. Half of the bridges were brought by students from SFCC and the other half from EWU students.

The bridges are weighed in grams and then a compression load machine applies a downward force to each bridge until failure while recording the maximum force in pounds that the bridge withstood before failure. These two measurements were combined to form a force to weight ratio for each contestant in the units of pounds per gram.

The ratios were averaged and Spokane Falls Community College won for the best ratio of the two schools by a narrow margin, despite EWU taking first and second place for individuals.

Benjamin Judd took first place with a bridge weighing 84 grams that held 246 pounds for a ratio of 2.93 pounds per gram. Second place was Josh McDonald with 98 grams, holding 193 pounds  and 1.97 pounds per gram. Third was the team from Spokane Falls Community College: Aaron Hasenoehrl, Carlos Latorre and Matt Hudgins. Their bridge weighed 81 grams, withstood 140 pounds of pressure  for a ratio of 1.73 pounds per gram.

Judd took first for the third year in a row for a perfect run of three wins for three competitions and, as Judd is graduating this year, this was his last time competing.

Overall, the students all had a great time and it was a party like atmosphere as the students watched their creations being destroyed one by one.