news: Red Bull Gravity Challenge held at TDX

PHOTO: Marked eggs were used to promote the Red Bull Gravity Challenge, held on May 9 at Theta Delta Chi fraternity at the University of Washington. The competition, a science fair egg drop "done Red Bull style," was accompanied by a grand prize trip to Flugtag in Portland.

It's not often that the opportunity arises to drop eggs from a scissor lift over two stories high, but that's exactly what several teams got to do at the UW Red Bull Gravity Challenge held at Theta Delta Chi fraternity on May 9.

The event, emceed by UW Brand Manager Ryan Berry and DJed by local cut-master DJ Dyce, was scored by three celebrity judges: Steve Rock of 99.9 KISW, Greg Young of Northwest Riders and a member of the Red Bull "Wings Team." Points were given for style, accuracy, egg survival and whether the egg actually touched the ground.

"Team Feldman," made up of two Theta Delts, took first place with 84 points and won the grand prize trip to Flugtag in Portland.

The winning contraption was colorful and complex, consisting of helium-filled balloons attached to a shot glass — the egg container — cushioned by other air-filled balloons. It was "engineered" to let the egg roll out onto the target, scoring extra points.

Many other ingenious and creative designs made an appearance as well, including one made of a styrofoam container that used streamers as air resistance and another that used a shock-absorbing jar of peanut butter as their main element.

The Red Bull Gravity Challenge has been making appearances on college campuses from coast to coast.