When 10 teams of Applied Science students recently
raced their cardboard canoes on the Salmon River, near
the Kennedy Field Station, only two of the crafts failed
to complete the course. (Guess what happened to them?)
Photo Credit: Rod Berndt

On a sunny September afternoon, 10 student teams raced their plastic-coated cardboard creations on the Salmon River north of Tamworth, Ontario at the Kennedy Field Station.

The 65-hectare property, including a large log home, workshop, and sugar shack, has been donated to the Department of Civil Engineering by Professor Emeritus and former Vice Principal Russ Kennedy, Sc’41, DSc’93.

The teams raced in pairs, head-to-head from a dock, paddling upstream for 100 metres around a buoy and then returning. Only two of the 10 canoes failed to finish, although a number of paddlers went swimming for the fun of it. Kennedy, 91, a former Director of Alumni Affairs, was on hand to enjoy the festivities.