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May 17, 2005--Michigan Tech's Concrete Canoe team triumphed over the competition at the regionals for the ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition, held last month at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. They swept all four parts of the American Society of Civil Engineers design contest, qualifying to compete in the nationals, to be held June 25-27 at Clemson University, in South Carolina. The event is about more than making a concrete boat float. "It's an exercise in engineering," said Bob Baillod, the team's advisor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "You have to design differently for speed and maneuverability. A canoe built for straight-line speed will be really hard to turn, and a canoe built for turning will be hard to keep on a straight line and is slower. The key is to get the best compromise." In their design report, the team explains how and why they did what they did. They are then judged on their display and oral presentation. "It's short, 10 minutes or less, and they can't go over the time limit or they get penalized." The fourth and final segment of the competition is the races, held in Kensington Metro Park, about 10 miles from Ann Arbor. Because each segment is worth only 25 points, it's possible to lose big and still win overall. And, since the Portage is frozen most of the academic year, you'd think that maybe the MTU team would have opted to slack off a little. But no. "They won every race by a lot," Baillod said. The Tech team paddled the competition in all three sprint classes--men's, women's and co-ed--and the men's and women's distance races. "Our women were so good in the distance that they beat the second-place men's time," he said. Team co-captain Erron Peuse, who just earned his BS in Civil Engineering and is now working on a graduate degree, said the team from the frozen north had an advantage. "It was freezing down there," he remembers. "It was colder than up here, but we held up against the weather. We had to let everybody know we're tough Yoopers." Over the last decade, Michigan Tech's concrete canoe has garnered one success after another. "We had a couple students back in 1996 who really got serious about building canoes," Baillod recalls. "At the time, Michigan State was the power in our conference, and we'd regularly come in second." Now Tech is the team to beat. "You get a tradition," Baillod explains. "Students see success, and it makes it easier to recruit team members. Plus, the concrete canoe team gets to be like a social club. They do things together, and many of their parents come to the competitions. "These are all high-quality people; they are top students," he adds. "I really enjoy working with them." |