Well the planning has begun. GNCTR '99 is on it's way, hosted by your friendly neighborhood Engineers at the University of Waterloo.

In February '99, teams from all over will arrive in Waterloo and bring their toboggans to the proving ground - the technical exhibition on campus and the University of Waterloo and the snowy slopes of the River Valley Country Club.

This web site was set up to provide information to both the participants, sponsors and spectators of the GNCTR. Please let us know if there is anything else you wish to see here.

The Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (GNCTR) is one of the most renowned engineering events of its kind in Canada. It is a competition where students meet to display their engineering creativity and innovation. Each team consists of a minimum of six students who are required to design, construct, and race a toboggan with a running surface made completely out of Portland based concrete. Teams are also responsible for implementing a braking system, of their own design, to bring their speeding sleds to a stop after the race.

The idea itself presents a challenge. To generate a sliding surface out of a completely innappropriate material, concrete. It is creative solutions to problems like this that we like to encourage and expect from each team.

The increase the challenge of the event, each team must follow predetermined constraints. These rules and regulations are under revisement from year to year and are passed down from each hosting committee to the next. Throughout the event, teams are judged on design and presentation creativity, technical reports, and race performance.

Since it's conception in 1974, the GNCTR has grown to include universities and technical institutes from across Canada, the United States and Europe. At present, approximately 500 students present themselves each year to compete for the best Concrete Toboggan. Read up on the origin of the GNCTR.