University of Nevada, Reno engineering students crossed the finish line in style last month. Concrete style that is. The American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) 21st Annual National Concrete Canoe Competition saw the best of the best come out and show off their concrete canoes in Montreal's Olympic Basin. The University of Nevada, Reno, team took home the gold with their 19.5-foot-long, 160-pound white canoe with blue and silver stain.
Held at the École de technologie supérieure in Montreal, Canada, the three-day event challenged the students with the task of showing off their concrete canoe design. The races, both endurance and spirit combined, counted for only 25% of the overall score. The remaining 75% included a technical design paper, a formal oral presentation, and successfully fielding judges' questions during a Q&A session.
“Over the past three days, these intrepid civil engineering students have shown that technical skills combined with an innate sense of creativity can turn a seemingly impossible task into a reality,” says ASCE president David G. Mongan, P.E., F. ASCE. “With the innovative thinking we've seen in Montréal, I can't wait to see what's to come from these students in the future as they begin their professional careers.”
The team's closest competitors were the University of California, Berkeley and the host school École de technologie supérieure. UC Berkeley's boat VoCal took second at 229-pounds, 19.92 feet long, and colored gray, black, and red. École de technologie supérieure came in a close third with the gray, green, and black colored 170-pound, 20-foot-long Toutatis.
Winners University of Nevada, Reno, the University of California, Berkeley, and École de technologie supérieure received cash prizes of $5000, $2500, and $1500, respectively.
For more information on the other winners, visit www.concretecanoe.asce.org.
