Tugging and pulling will be a popular past time this weekend at the Pi Kappa Alpha house.

The house will be the sight of the 4th annual Pi Kappa Alpha women’s Tug of War philanthropy contest beginning at 10 a.m. and lasting throughout Saturday. This year, eight different sororities will be involved in the all-day contest.

The fraternity hopes to raise between $800 and $1,000 for the Ben Gordon Sexual Assault Foundation of DeKalb.

Although this is the fourth year of the women’s tugs, there is a bit more history to the tournament.

During the late 70s the tugs involved both women’s tugs and men’s tugs. After a few years, the women’s contest died out while the men’s tugs continued. Four years ago, there was a resurgence of interest in the women’s tugs and the contest was revived.

According to fraternity members, there are certain differences between the male tugs and the female tugs. “There aren’t as many people involved,” said house member Bob Kristoff. “So it doesn’t seem to be quite as competitive.”

“House members coach the sorority teams, too,” Kristoff added. “Even so, a lot of the same strategies are used.”

Justin Bartley, vice president of Pi Kappa Alpha said sometimes the competition starts out slowly.

“In the past, the tugs would just sort of begin without much intensity, but then later in the day, it would get all the more exciting,” he said. “Although the people involved in the contest were tired, the people watching were getting excited about who would win.”

Trophies are given for the first, second and third place teams.

Three years running, the team to beat has been Delta Zeta. The sorority is hoping to turn their three-peat into a four-peat this year, but they are looking at new challenges.

“We have a completely new team, only two team members returned,” said team member Ronna Gough. “So we are starting from scratch and just working with the basics.

“In the past, our dedication and determination has led us to victory,” she added. “We always had really good coaches.”

Current team members are hoping to rise to the challenge.

“We have been practicing everyday,” said team member Jennifer Fidell. “We condition by running and then we spend a lot of time on the ropes practicing new techniques.”