On Sept. 12, Connor Lawrence and Shayne Pfeifer broke the Guinness World Record for the most behind-the-back flying disc catches in one minute. Their record was 34.

The University of Winnipeg’s (U of W’s) Ultimate team usually does a beach tournament, and Lawrence says he wanted to make it a bit more interesting, so he applied to the break the world record. The tournament didn’t end up happening, but the pair brooke the record with little practice.

“We winged it … We’re allowed to use as many discs as we want, so we had like 60 discs when we actually did it,” Lawrence says. “So just rapid fire, and yeah, if we had practised, it would have been better. But it turned out fine.”

“Our record-breaking run was the practice run, and at that point, I was like ‘let’s do it again, because we can do better,’ and Connor was like ‘nah, we already beat the record. Who cares?’” Pfeifer adds.

Tim and Daniel Habenicht previously held the record with 24 behind-the-back catches, which they achieved on May 6, 2012 in College Station, Texas.

“Connor stopped catching discs when we had five seconds left in the minute, so we could’ve actually had a higher record,” Pfeifer says. “And I think both of us were so in the zone. I was just rapid-fire throwing, and he was just trying to catch everything, and neither of us really thought of the emotion of it.”

They’re currently waiting for the confirmation of the world record to get a certificate.

In the meantime, the pair, along with the U of W Ultimate team, are practising and getting ready for regionals, the Canadian Prairie University Ultimate Championships, in Regina at the end of the month.

Pfeifer started the Ultimate team in 2015, and both Pfeifer and Lawrence have been playing since its start.

Pfeifer says there’s not a lot of competition in the city, other than the University of Manitoba (U of M). At the regionals, the U of M is their biggest rival.

“It’s not really competitive necessarily, but they’re our rivals, they’re the ones we want to strive to be and beat,” Pfeifer says. “In terms of on (the) field, who we’re close with, we’ve had some good battles with Alberta.”

They currently have 19 players on their team who have gone through tryouts. Pfeifer says they’re hoping to get more guys on their team, so anyone interested should contact him.

The women’s team is also looking more players. Time constraints mean they team won’t hold tryouts, so it’s a good chance applicants will make the roster.

Lawrence says there’s also an Ultimate Intramural program where people can come out to play on Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. at the RecPlex field.

To get in contact with or to find out more information about the Ultimate team, email [email protected].

Published in Volume 72, Number 4 of The Uniter (September 28, 2017)