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CE Home > CE News > Concrete Canoe team wins national award
Concrete Canoe team wins national award
An innovative hull design helped the University of Minnesota win top honors for design at the 2004 National Concrete Canoe Competition.
The UMN team received the Tony P. Chrest Innovation Award and placed 11th overall in the national competition, held in Washington, D.C., from June 17-20.
The event is sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and Master Builders Inc.
"We were really excited to win the innovation design award," said Tim Lamkin, a civil engineering student and co-captain of this year's team.
The UMN team, led by Lamkin and classmates Steve Sabraski and Nathan Wallerstedt, began brainstorming ideas last September.
They shaved more than 100 pounds from last year's 225-pound design by using a double-sectioned hull with panes cut out of the inner section to reduce weight.
"We wanted to do something that no one had ever done before," said team member Patrick Johnson. "Everyone's stuck in the mold of doing a solid concrete canoe."
The 105-pound canoe was the lightest canoe at the national competition, Lamkin said. Judges also gave the canoe high marks for aesthetics. The team placed 5th out of the 22 teams competing for final product.
Teams are judged on their canoe design, a technical paper, a presentation and their results in five heats, two with male paddlers, two with female paddlers and one co-ed race.
Robert Dexter, the faculty adviser for the ASCE student chapter, said the UMN team performed well against some of the national heavyweights in the competition.
"They did an excellent job," he said. "The construction, appearance of the canoe compared well with the top teams."
This year's team named their canoe L'Etoile du Nord, after the Minnesota state motto.
University of Minnesota concrete canoe teams have a history of innovative design, Lamkin said. UMN designs, such as a catamaran-style canoe used in the 1999 competition, have often spurred rule changes at the national level.
Teams from the University have gone to nationals several times in the last decade. In 2001, the UMN team placed 6th in the national competition.
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