University of Nevada, Reno Engineering Students Win National Concrete Canoe Competition in Montreal MONTREAL, June 21
MONTREAL, June 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- From a distance, the event
being held in Montreal's Olympic Basin today may have looked like an ordinary
canoe race. But the canoes these competitors were using were far from
ordinary. In fact, the competitors themselves were not your typical paddlers.
They were civil engineering students from across the U.S. and Canada, and the
canoes they were racing were made of concrete.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080621/CLSA009 )
With equal parts technical skill, creativity and determination, the
University of Nevada, Reno has captured their first-ever national Concrete
Canoe title today at the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) 21st
Annual National Concrete Canoe Competition. Their 19.5-foot-long, 160-pound,
white canoe with blue and silver stain defeated entries from top engineering
schools from across the country, and ended the University of Wisconsin -
Madison's five-year winning streak. The win marks the end of three days of
fierce competition and more than a year's worth of blood, sweat and tears for
the team, in their bid to capture the 'America's Cup of Civil Engineering'.
"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," said ASCE president David G.
Mongan, P.E., F.ASCE. "With the innovative thinking we've seen in Montreal, 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 host school, Ecole de technologie superieure. The University of
California, Berkeley paddled into second place with the gray, black and red,
229-pound, 19.92-foot-long VoCal -- a tribute to the 'Free Speech Movement'
and the Ecole de technologie superieure finished a close third with the gray,
green and black, 170-pound, 20-foot-long Toutatis -- a Celtic tribute. For
their top finishes, the University of Nevada, Reno, the University of
California, Berkeley and Ecole de technologie superieure earned $5,000, $2,500
and $1,500 in scholarship money, respectively.
The 2008 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition teams in order of final
rank are:
1) University of Nevada, Reno
2) University of California, Berkeley
3) Ecole de technologie superieure
4) California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
5) University of Florida
6) University of Wisconsin - Madison
7) Clemson University
8) Michigan Technological University
9) University of California, Los Angeles
10) University of Wisconsin - Platteville
11) Polytechnic University
12) Drexel University
13) Florida Institute of Technology
14) University of Houston
15) Youngstown State University
16) The University of Maine
17) University of Washington
18) United States Air Force Academy
19) Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
20) Fairmont State University
21) Louisiana Tech University
22) Milwaukee School of Engineering
The races, both endurance and sprint combined, counted for only 25 percent
of the teams' overall score. The remaining 75 percent was based equally on a
technical design paper that highlighted the planning, development, testing and
construction of the team's canoe; a formal oral presentation, in which the
team had to detail their canoe's design, construction, racing ability and
other innovative features, as well as defend their choices to the judges
during a question and answer session; and the end product -- the final racing
canoe and project display, which were scored on aesthetics and visual
presentation.
Special awards were also given to three teams. The University of Wisconsin
- Madison received the R. John Craig Memorial Award -- given to the school
that best exemplifies the spirit and cooperative ideals of the competition by
placing first in the co-ed sprint race; Drexel University was honored with the
Tony P. Chrest Innovation Award -- given in recognition of a team's superior
and creative use of technology and materials in the construction of their
canoe; and the University of Florida was awarded the American Concrete
Institute Excellence in Concrete Canoe Design Award -- given to recognize use
of basic design principles for unconventional applications.
The three-day event, organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers
and hosted by the Ecole de technologie superieure, was made possible by the
support of the American Concrete Institute; Baker Concrete Construction; BASF
- The Chemical Company; Bentley Systems, Incorporated; the Construction
Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers; Holcim (US) Inc.; ICS
Penetron; Kiewit; and U.S. Silica Company.
For more information on the National Concrete Canoe Competition, including
downloadable high-resolution photos, please visit
http://www.concretecanoe.asce.org.
The National Concrete Canoe Competition is organized by the American
Society of Civil Engineers and is funded by the generous support of the
American Concrete Institute; Baker Concrete Construction; BASF - The Chemical
Company; Bentley Systems, Incorporated; the Construction Institute of the
American Society of Civil Engineers; Holcim (US) Inc.; ICS Penetron; Kiewit;
and U.S. Silica Company. This year's event is hosted by Ecole de technologie
superieure.
SOURCE American Society of Civil Engineers
