2006 Concrete Canoe Beaumont, Tx Rita .

Co Captains        Jeremy Mitchell        &       Devin Jones

4/24/2006      Lamar takes second place in regional concrete canoe competition

Lamar University took second place overall in the annual concrete canoe contest, with the Texas A&M University taking first place and the University of Houston placing third place. Final phases of the Texas/Mexico Regional American Society of Civil Engineers Competition were conducted at Boomtown USA in Rose City Saturday.

“We overcame a lot of obstacles throughout the semester and received a lot of support from the department and our advisors,” said senior Jeremy Mitchell of Port Arthur, co-captain of Lamar University's concrete canoe project. “We were able to excel, even in the toughest of conditions.”

Lamar competed with about a dozen other schools from Texas and Mexico. Friday, each school displayed a canoe at the Holiday Inn Beaumont Plaza and presented a technical paper on their respective projects with judging by the professional arm of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Students also conducted oral presentations as part of the Friday competition.

Lamar's oral presentation ranked first in that category, Mitchell said. “I was pleased. We did very well. The judges asked us some difficult questions, but we responded well.” On Saturday, the participating schools took to the water at Boomtown USA. Lamar took first place for the men's sprint. LU also earned third place in men's endurance and women's sprint.

After the races, each canoe was surveyed to determine how it withstood the day-long competition. Lamar took second place for final product. The design team was delighted with the outcome. For the first time in a decade, the concrete canoe races were conducted on Lamar University's home turf - and a waterway running through it.

About 30 civil engineering students were part of Lamar's concrete canoe team. Other schools competing included the University of Texas in Austin, UT-Arlington, Texas Tech University, Prairie View A&M, UT-El Paso, UT-San Antonio and several schools from Mexico. The last time Lamar hosted the regional competition was in 1996, said Mitchell, president of Lamar's student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Late last week, co-captains of Lamar's entry, Mitchell and senior Devin Jones of Silsbee, were making final preparations for the race. Lamar named its canoe Rita because of the impact the hurricane had on Southeast Texas and Lamar engineering students, their studies and their concrete canoe project. Mitchell said some students put in long hours to get the project completed after the hurricane caused vast delays. During spring break, some students even worked until 2 or 3 a.m. when possible to make sure the project stayed afloat.

Lamar's 2006 concrete canoe project was started in the summer of 2005, but it was put on hold after Hurricane Rita hit the region. Many Lamar students involved in the canoe project also competed in the annual steel bridge competition. After the steel bridge competition ended, students then focused on completing the concrete canoe.

“It took a considerable amount of man-hours,” Mitchell said. “It's a lot of work. It's very labor intensive.”

The concrete canoe competition gave students an opportunity to put principles they have learned into action, he said. It also gave students a chance to works as a team while getting to interact with their instructors on a different level, Mitchell said. “It's great because students get some hands-on experience.”

While Mitchell worked on the canoe design, Jones focused on developing a lightweight concrete mixture. It is nothing like concrete used on a construction site, Mitchell said. Lamar's overall ranking was determined after judges review technical papers submitted by the competing schools, the oral presentations, final products and standing in the canoe races, with each of the four areas valued at 25 points.

Mitchell applauded civil engineering associate professor Jerry Lin and instructor Hani Tohme for overseeing the project.