Campus Pick: Great Northern Concrete Toboggan

This week we honour a misunderstood group of students on our campuses: the engineers. With their weird rituals, unique communication "skillz", love of BEvERages, and STUNenTS (to say nothing of their smell) it is easy to see why they are seen as different by the rest of the student body.

One of their rituals is a yearly competition called the "Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race."

It involves engineering schools from across Canada, and sometimes the United States and Europe, who design a toboggan using a metal frame and a running surface entirely of concrete.

The Great Race was held January 30 to February 2 in Sherbrooke this year. The races generated a wealth of YouTube clips. Here are some of our favourites.

Queen’s TV, a service of the Queen’s students union provides their coverage:

[![](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/video016a101e5ebd.jpg)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnA3YcIbKFI&rel=1)

Megan Lenz of Queen’s TV, with the conclusion to Queen’s Concrete Toboggan challenge.

THE RUNS:

[![](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/video459f7648b06b.jpg)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjUmvEZPr1Q&rel=1)

First Person in the driver’s seat of the University of Calgary Alumni sled

[![](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/video426382651767.jpg)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VFqFHdMVJk&rel=1)

On their second ride down the hill, the University of Alberta team nearly crashes but recover to finish the race.

[![](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/videofc294535b434.jpg)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZZ1_cQYNQ0&rel=1)

Concordia needed a bit of a push

No engineering event is complete without a person dancing in costume for no apparent reason:

[![](http://www.joeycoleman.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/video09882e0b94d6.jpg)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv4rw0RuQG4&rel=1)