Saskatoon's massive snowball fight likely to break world record

They counted down from 10 and then the white wave rained down as thousands of people began hurling snowballs at each other in an attempt to break the world record for largest snowball fight in the world.

“It was just like a sea of people and a sea of snowballs,” organizer and Canadian snowball fight team captain Nathan Thoen said.

The assault in Victoria Park lasted only a minute and a large portion of it was focused on Thoen and comedian Rick Mercer who stood atop a mound of snow. Both walked away with a few cuts and scrapes, but Thoen was more than happy to take a couple hundred snowballs for the team.

“I’m feeling lit. You can’t help but have a little bit of a stoke going after getting a world record,” he said.

Thoen doesn’t know if they officially broke the current record set by 5,834 people in Seattle, WA, but he said they ran out of the 8,200 wristbands they brought to register participants.

Some participants, however, didn’t want to wait until the fight started to begin throwing snowballs at people talking on stage such as Mercer and Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison.

The event helped promote Thoen’s team as they make their way to Japan for the world snowball fight championship on Feb. 8.