Concrete canoes in the capitol!

Concrete Construction, June, 2004

Hundreds of civil engineering students from across North America will converge in the nation's capital June 18-20, 2004, for the National Concrete Canoe Competition, an event that challenges students from top civil engineering schools to make the impossible a reality: design, build, and race canoes made of concrete. The American Society of Civil Engineers and Master Builders, organizers and sponsors of the competition, are partnering with the National Building Museum this year to present the competition as part of a weekend of festivities celebrating the opening of a new exhibition: Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete.

On the opening day of the exhibition, the museum will stage a Concrete Carnival, and will welcome kids and their families to share in the wonder of concrete and its applications through hands-on activities and direct interaction with the young competitors of the National Concrete Canoe Competition. The Concrete Canoe Competition, the Liquid Stone exhibition opening, and the Concrete Carnival will be the main elements during 3 days of festivities held under the banner "Celebrating Concrete!" that will showcase the engineering ingenuity that has taken concrete from sidewalk surfaces to new and innovative applications.

"Over the years, competitors have surpassed out expectations for creative applications of concrete in the design and construction of the canoes. It is out hope that staging the competition during the opening of the Liquid Stone exhibition will provide inspiration to the students. It will also be a showcase where the general public can see the many ways concrete can be used in the building trades," said Mike Shydlowski, president and CEO of Master Builders, an industry-leading admixture supplier and primary corporate sponsor of the event.

The event challenges student teams to design a concrete canoe that not only looks good on paper, but can actually win races. Seventy percent of the competition is based on the canoe design, a written design paper and a business presentation. These events will be held at the museum on June 18 and 19. The remaining 30 percent is based on a series of slalom/endurance and sprint races--the marquee event--to be held on the last day of competition, June 20, at Lake Fairfax in Reston, Va. Prior to racing, the canoes must pass a flotation test in which the students demonstrate that their canoes do indeed float. The flotation tests will be held at the National Building Museum on Saturday, June 19.

For additional information on the National Concrete Canoe Competition, visit the ASCE Web site at www.asce.org. Additional details on the Liquid Stone exhibition can be found at www.nbm.org.