It’s in our sidewalks, the foundations of our homes and in buildings, bridges, roads and dams around the world. While concrete has become the most widely used building material in the world, it remains a mystery to many. However, the use of concrete in floating vessels is not new. In fact, the history of concrete boat building dates back to 1848, when Joseph Louis Lambot built thin-walled reinforced concrete boats for use at his estate in Miraval, France. Concrete was also used to build barges during World War II to replace scarce steel supplies.

The history of Concrete Canoe in the United States actually began in the 1960s, when a small number of ASCE student chapters began holding intramural Concrete Canoe races. Then, in the 1970s, both the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Berkeley claim to have held the first regional competition. In the more than 30 years since, the students’ efforts to combine engineering excellence and hydrodynamic design to construct water-worthy canoes have culminated in an advanced form of concrete construction and racing technique known as the “America’s Cup of Civil Engineering.”

Twenty years ago, in 1988, ASCE expanded the competition to the national level, when Master Builders, Inc., now the Admixture Systems business of BASF Construction Chemicals, signed-on to become the sole corporate sponsor for the event. In its first year, 18 teams of enthusiastic civil engineering students from the nation’s premier academic programs gathered in East Lansing, Mich., to test the waters of this innovative and educational event. Over the next two decades, the competition became a great success, with regional winners traveling across the country by plane, train and Ryder truck, canoes in tow, in their quest to become National Concrete Canoe Competition champions.

As competition was developing here in the United States, the idea had also taken hold in other countries. Today, concrete canoe racing happens around the world in places like Germany, South Africa, Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates; and with sponsorship from ASCE and the American Concrete Institute (ACI), the 2007 National Concrete Canoe Competition winning team, University of Wisconsin - Madison, travelled to the Netherlands to represent the United States in the 30th Annual Dutch Concrete Canoe Challenge.

The Concrete Canoe Competition was designed to provide civil engineering students an opportunity to gain hands-on, practical experience and leadership skills by working with concrete mix designs and project management. Organizers, sponsors and participants are dedicated to building awareness of concrete technology and application, as well as the versatility and durability of concrete as a construction material, among civil engineering students, educators, practitioners, the concrete industry and the general public. They also strive to increase awareness among industry leaders, opinion makers and the general public of civil engineering as a dynamic and innovative profession essential to society. In its 20-year history, the National Concrete Canoe Competition has challenged the knowledge, creativity and stamina of more than 400 teams and 5000 students. In 2008, more than 200 teams competed in 18 conference competitions to qualify for participation at the national level.

Each year the competition travels to a different school. National sponsors of the NCCC underwrite the expenses for travel, meals and accommodations for the first-place winners of the conference competitions, as well as any teams who placed second in conference competitions in which the winner placed first through fifth in the previous year’s national competition.

Teams of engineering students will gather for a weekend designed to be both challenging and fun. Twenty-five percent of each team’s total team score will be based on the engineering design and construction principles used in the creation of their concrete canoe; 25 percent will be based on a technical design report detailing the planning, development, testing and construction of their canoe; and 25 percent will be based on a formal business presentation highlighting the canoe’s design, construction, racing ability and other innovative features. The remaining 25 percent of each team’s score is based on the performance of the canoe and the paddlers in five different race events: men’s and women’s slalom/endurance races, and men’s, women’s and co-ed sprint races.

The last AH national winning team - 2001

The 2008 AH team with their canoe