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Kid beats hundreds of adults in rock, paper, scissors championship

Nearly 250 people crammed into a snowboard shop in Fernie last weekend to watch 10-year-old Findley Martin become the youngest winner of the 20th annual Edge of The World Rock Paper Scissors Championship.

The young boy competed in eight rounds of rock, paper, scissors over two hours, beating out hundreds of adult competitors for the chance to win a snowboard of his choice.

"My knees were shaking while I was doing it," said Martin. "They didn't think a kid would get this far... it felt awesome."

Findley's dad, Matt Martin, was also surprised.

"We were just thrilled. We couldn't believe our 10-year-old was kicking everybody else's butt," Matt told Radio West host Sarah Penton.

"We just started to get really excited."

'Big event'

The annual competition has become a popular event in the East Kootenay city. The Martin family enters every year when they come to town to snowboard.

"It's kind of a big event among the snowboarders," said Matt. "There's posters around town, and so if you see the posters ... you just go in there, and you get in line, and you just join the crowd and everybody competes."

The Competition

The elimination-style competition starts with two lines forming and everyone partnering up with someone to compete against.

Each pairing plays three sets of rock, paper, scissors and then the winner goes on to play in the next round.

Martin, did some research to try and help him get through each round.

Trisha Martin
Trisha Martin

"We looked it up and then we found out that men usually do rock first and women usually do scissors first," said Martin.

He also learned that people usually don't repeat the same move twice.

'So much excitement'

For the final round, Martin played his opponents on a raised level where everyone in the snowboard shop could watch.

When he won, the crowd went wild.

"We still kind of chuckle when we think through it, because there is just so much excitement around it," said Matt.

"It's more than just getting a free snowboard, because you've been ... competing with this crowd for a couple hours and then just to see Finn up there was awesome."