Three teams tied in a nailbiting finish to this year's ODT Extra! Central South Island year 9-10 current events quiz.
Two Ashburton College teams and a Mountainview High School team needed extra time to determine one overall winner when the quiz returned to Timaru Boys' High School last night.
Ashburton College 6 eventually claimed first place, followed by Mountainview High School3 in second place, and Ashburton College 2, in third.
The three teams finished with 94 points out of 100 before their final battle for top spot.
The winning Ashburton team was made up of Jonty Small (14), Harry McMillan (14) and Isaac Bazley (13), who all admitted they did not put in much study time.
The boys had a couple of tough rounds, but it was the cartoon segment which was the hardest, Jonty said.
Harry agreed.
''[They were] just asking for quite in-depth answers.''
However, Isaac thought a section of questions based on newspaper articles was one of the more challenging rounds.
Extra! editor and co-ordinator of the quiz Ivan Behrnes said the tight finish was not common, particularly in the Timaru-based years 9-10 segment.
Last night's quiz featured 58 teams from schools including St Kevin's College and Waitaki Girls' High School, both in Oamaru, along with Mackenzie College, from Fairlie, and Mount Hutt College, in Methven.
He said it was ''heartening'' to have so much support from a wide range of schools, covering a wide area from Oamaru to Mid Canterbury.
Two more quizzes will be hosted at Timaru Boys' High School today, which will test the knowledge of children in years 5-6 and years 7-8.
-By Alexia Johnstone
