Some 350 German youths put on what they called the world's biggest ever water-balloon fight over the weekend, soaking each other with 7,850 water filled balloons in less than three minutes.

The watery event was by no means a spontaneous one. The gymnastics club in the southern German town staged the soggy battle Saturday in an attempt to beat the current world champions from the United States. According to the Guinness Book of World Records the team from the University of Buffalo in California launched 5,200 water-balloons in five minutes.

But according to the Schweinfurt organizers, the Germans are now the reigning champions. "An entry in the Guinness Book of World Records is as good as certain," they said.

Organized battle

Relying on the town's children and teenagers to take Schweinfurt into the annals of strange sports history, organizers had the participants -- and their parents as water carriers -- line up on two sides of a 10 meter by 10 meter (33 foot by 33 foot) field. When the starting gun went off, they immediately began pelting each other for two minutes and 48 seconds as three referees looked on.

The match was recorded for posterity and as proof that the town broke the current record for throwing the largest number of water balloons in the shortest amount of time.

"We abided by all the rules and hope our record will be confirmed," said the very wet head of the gymnastics club, Matthias Kress.