CHAPEL HILL - Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have a new take on tenting.
Shortly after 4 p.m. last Friday, 11 students began competing in the second annual "Hands on a Duke Ticket" contest, organized by the student group Keeping Recreational Activities New and Creative.
The competitors must keep one hand on a table at all times while standing under a tent in the Pit, a main social area on campus. The last person standing wins two riser tickets to the Duke-Carolina men's basketball game at the Dean Dome Tuesday February 7.
The contest ended Sunday night after 53 hours, 38 minutes and 38 seconds.
The final two contestants, senior Naresh Sundaresan and junior Jordan Todd, negotiated to split the tickets.
"I've always been a huge Carolina basketball fan," Sundaresan said. "It was worth my time and effort to get the basketball tickets."
Todd participated in the contest last year but accidentally picked his hand up while playing poker-thus lasting only 15 hours in the competition."I felt I had to vindicate myself from last year," he said. "I wanted to prove to myself that I could last."
His tactics included listening to his iPod and trying not to focus on anything but the contest.
Sundaresan said he did not expect it to be as challenging as it was in the beginning. "It was a good experience," he added at the end of the contest. "It's something I can say I did."
Organizers got the idea for the competition from the documentary "Hands on a Hardbody," in which contestants competed for a truck by seeing who could keep their hand on it the longest.
KRANC received the basketball tickets from the Carolina Athletic Association after proposing the contest idea.
"It was a pretty big hit last year," said junior Mark Smith, president of KRANC. "It's fun when the student body comes by."
Every two hours, the contestants have a 10-minute break, and every six hours, they have a 15-minute break.
Food is provided, but students must eat with one hand on the table. The contestants are also allowed to sleep, as long as they do not lean on the table.
About six hours into the event, freshmen basketball stars Tyler Hansbrough and Bobby Frasor stopped by to visit the contestants.
Smith, who competed last year but dropped out before the 59-hour event ended, noted that basketball fever is spreading as the big game quickly approaches.
"I feel that the contest does create some sort of excitement or buzz about the game," Smith said.
For senior Melissa Sutton, one of the contestants, it was an easy decision to commit to the competition.
"It's senior year, and it's the biggest rivalry," she said. "I'm actually going to be at the game either way, but I'm going for the risers."
Freshman Bennett Campbell lasted almost 19 hours. When his phone dropped, he reached with both hands to pick it up and was forced to drop out of the contest.
"The hardest part was not trying to think of it as two days," he said. "I tried to take it one little chunk at a time."
Campbell decided to compete because of his bad luck with ticket distributions in the past.
"I saw this is a chance to have control over my tickets instead of waiting for a number to come up," Campbell said.
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