Civil engineering students from Clemson University have won their third national concrete canoe championship.
The 15th annual National Concrete Canoe Competition brought together more than 250 students from 25 of North America's top civil engineering schools in an event proving that engineers can make the impossible a reality-designing, building and racing canoes made primarily of concrete. Clemson's canoe, Accomplice, was 21.4 feet long, 0.4 inches thick and weighed only 130 pounds.

Far from being floating bathtubs, canoes competing at the national level typically resemble fiberglass racing canoes and boast sophisticated designs aimed at achieving the best combination of speed and maneuverability. The students use latex, superplasticizers, fly ash and high-tech aggregates to develop extremely lightweight and super-strong concrete mixes.

Master Builders Inc., the sole sponsor of the competition, awarded $9,000 in scholarship prizes to the top three overall ranking teams in the finals.

Clemson's concrete canoe team placed second last year after winning two consecutive national championships.