From Tech Marathon to the World Programming Championship: The Story of Medellín’s Fast and Fourier Team

Santiago Cano, Martín Díaz, and Simón Fallón, all Mathematical Engineering students at EAFIT University and members of the Fast and Fourier team, are about to fulfill their dream. Just a few days ago, they won the MaratonTech for the third consecutive time, organized by Ruta N and the Metropolitan Technical Institute (ITM), and in November, they will travel to Egypt to compete in the world's most prestigious programming competition.

This is the world championship of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), a contest that brings together the most talented young programmers worldwide to solve problems collaboratively with innovation, creativity, and under pressure.

The ICPC has a long history. It began in 1970 as a closed competition primarily involving organizations from Canada and the United States, and since 1977, it has become a global championship, with competitions held across different continents as qualifiers for the annual final.

Since then, more than 50,000 students per year from 3,000 universities in 111 countries have participated, and 400 in-person competitions have been held.

The Competition

The last challenge Simón, Santiago, and Martín faced was the MaratonTech, organized by Ruta N and ITM. Hundreds of young participants competed to solve challenges in popular programming languages such as Java, C, C++, and Python.

The MaratonTech had two rounds. One took place at ITM’s facilities, where 132 enthusiastic young people gathered to tackle the challenges. Additionally, 64 other participants joined from cities across the country, including a team from the Amazon region.

After competing and showcasing their skills, the event judges selected 25 teams to advance to the final, which was held on September 20 in the main auditorium of the Ruta N Corporation.

The Big Day

Silence and focus reigned in the auditorium. All eyes of the 74 finalists were fixed on their computer screens, which displayed only code and algorithms — not everyone can understand what’s there.

The final lasted an entire day. Hours upon hours of intense focus ended with one winning team: Fast and Fourier, Simón, Martín, and Santiago's team. It was no surprise, as they have taken the title home in the last three editions.

Simón, the team leader, celebrated the victory, acknowledging that the competition was tough, with a high level of skill, and that winning the title wasn’t easy. These victories are not a matter of luck but of years of training.

"Our team didn’t just win this time but also the previous two times. It’s the result of many years of training and preparing for other national and international competitions," Simón said.

The training is rigorous. They meet up and participate in competitions they download from the internet, which are almost identical to those they might encounter in any contest. “It’s like playing a friendly match in FIFA,” compared the programmer. And afterward, they discuss their achievements and the mistakes they made, so they don’t repeat them. This cycle continues.

This entire learning journey, which has been reinforced by the competitions supported by Ruta N, is about to face its ultimate challenge. From November 12 to 17, Fast and Fourier will be in Sharm el-Sheikh, a city in Egypt on the Sinai Peninsula coast, competing to bring one of the most important programming titles back to Colombia. Good luck!