2009-2010

News Release

REF NO.: 109

SUBJECT: Engineering students compete in national toboggan races

DATE: January 25, 2010

Who says sliding is just for kids? On Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010, students from Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science will be on their way to Hamilton, Ontario, where they will compete in the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (GNCTR) against 24 other teams from across Canada in hopes of winning the national title.
            The Red Green MUN Machine team consists of 20 engineering students, most from the civil engineering discipline; however, only half of the team will be competing in Hamilton from Jan. 27 to 31. Fourth year civil engineering student Max Day is the team captain.
            “Attending such an event is a big milestone for Memorial’s engineering faculty. This event has been ongoing for more than 30 years and this is the first time MUN has been represented,” said Mr. Day. “We have one of the best structural and concrete design facilities in Canada, and we’re hoping with the hard work of all the students involved and the assistance from the Faculty of Engineering to not only attend this event but to, in fact, win it.”
            And win it, they might. The team work and preparation that have gone into this has been quite impressive, to say the least. The 20 team members were
broken into four sub-teams: design, construction, public relations and logistics. Each sub-team had its own captain, and the entire crew met weekly to ensure progress was satisfactory. The result? A sled with a concrete sliding surface and safety features such as braking and steering that will quickly, and safely, take five people down a 30-degree slope to the finish line.
            The team will travel to Hamilton to compete using funds received from the Angus Bruneau Student Leadership and Innovation Fund in Engineering, a program which encourages and supports student leadership and innovation in engineering education, research and community service. For more information, visit http://www.engr.mun.ca/home/LIFEbrochure_Dec4.pdf.
            Since 1975, GNCTR has become the oldest and largest engineering competition in Canada, challenging over 400 engineering students from across the country to design, build, and safely race toboggans with a running surface made entirely of concrete. For more information on the GNCTR, visit www.gnctr2010.com.

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