A team pairing a father with his son claimed the official championship in the relay event at a paper plane competition hosted by Moorim Paper (009200.KS). The relay was added this year alongside the existing distance and duration events. In the relay, a parent and child compete as a two-person team, with the parent catching the paper plane thrown by the child and throwing it again.
Moorim Paper said on the 20th that Cho Eun-chan, a student in the upper grades of the elementary division, and his father Cho Seong-gil flew a combined 67.66 meters to become the first official champions in the relay event at the 7th Moorim Paper KOREAN CUP Paper Plane Competition, held on the 17th of this month at the main stadium of Jinju Sports Complex.
Competition was fierce, as the relay event was run as a super cup in which the winning and runner-up teams from each division — from kindergarten through elementary and middle and high school — faced off without age distinctions. "I am glad there is now an event families can take part in together," Cho Seong-gil said. "Next year I would like to try it with my youngest son as well."
The distance and duration super cups, which brought together the top three finishers from each division, also produced closely fought contests. In the distance event, Lim Ji-hoon, a middle school student competing in the middle and high school open division, flew 69.55 meters to claim a new official championship. Lim is the son of Lim Byung-wook, last year's distance champion, and the pair set an unusual record by reaching the top two years in a row, showing off a distinctive talent for paper planes.
The duration title went to Hong Seong-yoon, a high school student who has competed in the Moorim Paper paper plane competition consistently for three years. His record was 42.16 seconds. Hong also finished first in the middle and high school open division of the distance regular league with 76.37 meters, performing strongly across events.
First held in 2017, the Moorim Paper paper plane competition has helped spread paper plane culture in South Korea by expanding paper plane play into a sport with records and rules. Final winners receive an official champion record certificate issued by the Korea Paper Airplane Association, along with awards from the mayor of Jinju, the commander of the Air Force Education and Training Command and the superintendent of the Jinju Office of Education.